


Cutting Edges

by TrashYatt



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: F/M, Mentions of Rape, domestic abuse, lonashipping, mentions of depression, mentions of drug, mentions of human trafficing, selfharm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2019-12-06 19:06:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18224225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrashYatt/pseuds/TrashYatt
Summary: Description to come later.~





	1. Null

It’s been a while since there was someone new starting at the school, much less, someone that were from a different region, that had no previous connection to Alola. Lillie and Hau were excited, knowing that the new girl or boy will be in their class, they being the same age as them. It was lunch time, and they were sitting outside on a bench, alongside Lillie’s older brother, Gladion, as well, filling him in on the news they had gotten earlier. He didn’t seem to interested, and just nodded, replying to what he found necessary to reply to. Lillie gave him a light slap on his shoulder, pouting and telling him to stop acting like an asshole, only for him to tell her that he didn’t care if there were arriving new people, much less in the region overall.

«You are no fun, brother...» she hissed at him.

«I’m not here to humor you, and you dragged be along, despite me having other things to do.» he hissed back at her.

«Like what? Sit in a bathroom stall and cut yourself up some more?» she snarled at him.

Gladion sent her a harsh glare. «I stopped doing so a year ago...» he muttered.

Hau just sat there, looking quite uncomfortable and waved his hands at the two blonde siblings. «Come on now...Let’s not bring up the past.» he said. The two looked away from each other, making Hau sigh softly, hanging his head. «Good for you though, Gladion. Been  _ clean _ for a year, that’s an achievement.»

Gladion hummed softly. «I guess...» he replied, shrugging as he rested his elbows on the table, placing his head in his hand, still looking away from Lillie’s direction.

Hau shrugged. «You should be proud. I can only imagine what you went through at the time with your mother and all...but still. You managed to stop, which is good!» Gladion nodded slightly and hummed. Hau then turned his attention over to Lillie. «You did great too! Standing up against your mother must have been hard.»

Lillie nodded, looking down at the table in front of her, her hands resting on her lap. «It...wasn’t easy...i can say that. But it felt good getting it out of my chest! And i know mom needed to hear it too!» she replied, forcing a smile on her lips.

Hau gave them both a thumbs up, grinning widely. «I’m proud of your both!» he exclaimed. Lillie giggled softly, and Gladion just rolled his eyes.

The subject got back to the new kid that would start in a few days, talking about him or her, how they would look, which region they came from and if they had any family they might had to leave behind. They became so engulfed into talking about it that they almost missed the next class. Gladion got up first, which made the two just look at him in confusion.

«Where are you going?» Lillie asked.

«To class...and so you should if you don’t want to skip it.» he replied flatly, walking off. Hau and Lillie exchanged glances and shrugged, getting up from the bench and started to walk inside the school building again, getting over to their class.

* * *

As the classes finished, Lillie and Hau met up with Gladion at the school gate, starting to walk home. As many times Gladion had said that he didn’t need for the two to wait for him, they insisted and persisted, making him in the end just let them, since whatever he said wouldn’t matter anyway. The two had also gotten to know at the end of their class that the new kid were in fact two new kids. Siblings. And they would start the next day in their class. Lillie was overly excited, planning to give a first good impression of herself to them and hopefully befriend them. Hau were telling her to calm down and just act her usual self, which Lillie said that she couldn’t.

«I’ll just come off as weird! I can’t act like my usual self!» she whined.

Hau laughed softly. «You should be fine.» he said waving his hand at her, grinning widely. «Just be yourself. I’m at least not going to pretend being someone i’m not.» he added, scratching the back of his neck.

«You can’t even pretend, Hau.» Gladion added in a snarky manner.

Hau chuckled nervously. «True...» he replied.

Lillie gave Gladion a light slap on his arm. «That’s rude!» she hissed, pouting at him.

«Ow...» he muttered lightly.

Hau chuckled, placing his hands behind his head, watching the blondes go on about their shenanigans and banter. Walking out of the city and onto Route 1, Hau took his leave saying goodbye to the two as he started on his way over to Iki Town. He could hear the two continue with their banter as they disappeared into the distance, which made him just smile softly.

«Hopefully the two new kids will make a difference...» he muttered to himself, looking up at the blue Alolan sky, catching a few clouds drifting over him. «Maybe you’ll even get a friend, Gladion.»

Inhaling deeply, he looked down at the ground, letting it out with a rather loud sigh. Continuing up the path to Iki Town, he noticed that the empty house alongside the road were looking rather busy, and that there were people in it. He couldn’t see anyone, but could hear them speak in Kantonese, which irked his interest and curiosity, to the point that he walked closer, wanting to get a good look at whoever that were there. The house had gotten a fresh overhaul of paint outside, as well as the porch had been fixed and decorated with a few flowers, looking quite homey. The Kantonese chatter were louder, and out of the front door walked a woman out. Hau jumped to the side, not wanting to get caught, since the woman looked rather scary, since her expression were quite stern looking.

«I bet Lusamine would have liked her as a friend...» he muttered silently to himself, watching her walk off towards Hau’oli City.

She were quite fancy and sharp looking as she passed him, not noticing that he were there, hiding behind a bush. Hau flinched when the front door closed shut, and the chatter became rather silent and soft. He kept on listening a little more, despite not understanding any Kantonese. After a while, he got out of the bush and continued on the way home to Iki Town, deciding to ask his grandfather, Hala, of who have moved into the house at the bottom of the hill.

* * *

Sitting around the dining table, Lillie kept on eating while Gladion were just moving the food around on the plate, not feeling hungry. Lusamine were nowhere to be seen, and were most likely at the office, going through paperwork and emails. Looking down at the place with food on it, Gladion weren’t feeling to enthusiastic about the idea of taking over the mountains of paperwork at Aether when that time came, knowing fully well that he had to take over at some point. He sighed and put down the fork, catching Lillie’s attention.

«Not hungry?» she asked lightly, taking another bite of the food.

«Yeah...» he muttered softly, massaging his left temple, followed by a soft sigh. «I’ll go out for a walk...» he said, getting up from the chair. «Thanks for the meal.» he added, walking out of the dining room. Getting out to the hallway, he called for his dog. «Null!»

The medium sized dog came running like crazy down the stairs, wagging its tail vigorously as it crashed into his legs, almost knocking Gladion over. Gladion regained his balance as he muttered a few curses as he squatted down while reaching for the leash, putting it on the collar of the dog. Keeping the dog leashed, he got into some shoes and went outside, starting to walk down to the nearby beach, wanting to let Null roam around freely while he could, taking his time while being outside as well. As he got to the beach, he unleashed the dog, letting it go off on it’s own. Walking down to the waterfront, he kept an eye on Null within the corner of his eyes, seeing that it were running around, and into the water on occasion, having a great time. The dog kept itself close to Gladion, at least until it noticed someone in the distance and set off, full speed towards whoever that was. Gladion stopped, just looking at the dog run off at full speed before he reacted.

«Null!!» he shouted at it, without the canine listening and kept on forward. Seeing that the dog didn’t slow down, it disappeared into the distance, making him starting to run after it. «Oh my god...fucking dog...» he hissed.

Running down the waterfront, he slowed down when he saw Null looking rather happy and content getting petted by a stranger. Stopping for a few seconds, looking over at the interaction between the two. The stranger was a girl, with long black hair put up in a ponytail, and she were talking softly to the canine, greeting it and generally just having a conversation with it. Slowly approaching, Null noticed him and ran over to him, going a 180 turn in front of him, only to run back to the girl.

She looked up at him, still squatting down to the dog as it arrived. «Your dog?» she asked.

Gladion stopped and nodded. «Yeah...» he muttered, looking out at the horizon.

«What breed is it?» she asked, continuing to talk softly, cooing to the canine.

«It’s a mutt. A dog mix.» he replied flatly, looking down at her from the corner of his eyes, seeing a soft smile on her lips.

The girl hummed softly, getting up on her feet. «That’s cool. Mutts are healthier after all...» she replied before getting interrupted by her phone. She took it up from her pocket, looking at the screen. «Sorry...I need to go.» she said, squatting down to the dog again. «Nice to meet you, and be nice to your master.» she said gently, making Null give off a soft whine, wagging its tail.

She smiled and gave it a few more pats on its head before getting up on her feet again, saying goodbye and started to walk off. Gladion watched her, his eyes fixated on her hair that were swaying gently from side to side from her movements. She pulled her phone up and took the call, starting to speak in Kantonese, which irked his interest, since her voice became lighter all of a sudden. Null gave a soft bark at him, making him flinch and look at the canine.

«What?» he hissed at the dog. The canine were looking quite content as it sat there, panting heavily with its tongue hanging out from its mouth. Gladion just rolled his eyes and started to walk, passing the dog. «Come on...we’ll be outside a little more.» he said.

The dog got up on its feet after sitting down, scratching the back of it’s neck a little, sprinting towards him and past him. Gladion found some driftwood and picked up a stick, whistling for the attention of the canine, waving the branch. Null gave off a playful bark, its ears perking up as it got into a playful stance. He waved the stick a little before throwing it into the sea, watching the dog leap after it in joy. While Null were swimming out to get the branch, Gladion looked over his shoulder, unconsciously wanting to see if the girl were still around. His shoulders dropped when he didn’t see her, looking over at Null, who were on its way to him. The dog dropped the stick in front of his feet, taking a few steps away from him, keeping its eyes fixated on the stick it had just dropped. Gladion sighed softly, picking it up and threw it out again watching Null do it all over again, being as happy as it could be.

He kept on with the playtime for a while, at least until the dog figured out it wouldn’t get up from its sitting spot anymore, to which he put he leash on it again and decided to head back home. Walking off the beach and onto the road again, he looked down at Null, walking nicely beside him, still panting heavily. He took another look over his shoulder, just making sure for his own conscious that the girl from earlier wasn’t coming back or were still around. She wasn’t, and there was no trace of her being around either, other than the soft spoken voice of hers, that kept lingering on his mind while he were walking home, catching the sky starting to get orange, and the sun starting to set into the horizon. On the way home, he got a text message from Lillie, telling him that she would be heading over to Hau’s place, as he needed help with a project that their class had, and he were starting to fall behind. Gladion replied with an OK and that he were on his way back home. As he got around the main gate, he met Lillie on the way out. She greeted him and waved goodbye in a hurry. Null were wagging its tail when seeing her, but the canine didn’t react the same way as it did with the girl on the beach earlier, all content and happy, even walking up to her on its own, which was rare, knowing it was skittish around strangers in general.

«Mom is going to be late again.» Lillie added as she walked off down the street.

«As usual...» he muttered, shaking his head.

He got inside, unleashed Null, letting the dog roam around a little before it found its way into the living room, settling down in front of the coach. Gladion followed shortly after he got out of his shoes, settling down in front of the TV, starting to skip through channels for a while.


	2. New People

Sitting in their classroom the next day, they were working on the project that Hau were falling behind on, and Lillie were helping him getting around it. Hau were struggling, but managed to get most of it done with the help of her, but the teacher had given the class a stern talk about it, telling them that it needed to be done before the class started at the end of the day. While he kept working on it, Lillie kept going on about the new kids that would get in their class. Hau then mentioned that they might be the new ones that had bought the house at the bottom of the hill up to Iki Town, on Route 1. Lillie perked up, getting more excited and asked him what they looked like, for him to tell her that he didn’t see them, but apparently saw their mother, or some guardian of theirs on his way home the day prior. Lillie was practically jumping in her seat, being so excited about two new people would start in their class. After a while of struggles, Hau finished the project just in time for the school bell to ring, and the teacher arriving shortly into the classroom. The teacher slammed their books onto the desk, making the few students in the classroom flinch and hurry up from their chairs, as well as more people arriving shortly after getting to their desks and waiting for the teacher to tell them to sit down. After a while of looking over them, the teacher nodded, gesturing them to sit down, which they all did, some even letting out some sighs as they did. Turning towards the whiteboard, the teacher started to write down things right away, not giving anyone any time to find their notebooks or even a pen to write with, which made a lot of the students groan softly.

After a while, there was a knocking on the door, making everyone look up from their books. The teacher cleared their throat and turned around to face their students, telling whoever that was on the other side to enter in a quite harsh tone. The door opened up and the principal stuck his head in, giving everyone a sweet, soft smile and greeted them all, telling them to just keep sitting down. He walked in, placed himself in front of the class and started to talk about the rumors that had been going around about two new students starting.

«Well...» he started, pausing a little as he placed his hands behind his back. «They are as true as they can get.» he added. He looked to the door and waved the two new students in. A boy, and a girl, looking eerily similar. The principal cleared his throat and looked over at the class, who already had their eyes fixated on the two new ones. «They will be in your class, so please be nice and welcome them in the warm Alolan manner, no?» he said, looking at the new kids. «Why don’t you introduce yourself?» he added, gesturing for the boy to start.

The boy nodded. «Alright...» he started, pausing a little. «Name is Sol, coming from Kanto, likes sport i guess...» he said, shrugging. He then looked over at his sister. «And if you couldn’t tell...» he said, swinging his arm around the girls shoulders, pulling her close. «We are identical twins.» he added, grinning widely.

The girl looked quite uncomfortable, and gave him a glare. Sol then let go of her, chuckling softly. She straightened her jacket, and inhaled deeply, letting it out with a soft, silent sigh. She bowed lightly. «My name is Luna, i’m Sol’s twin sister...»

«Younger...twin sister.» Sol added, interrupting her.

Luna just rolled her eyes slightly. « _ Younger _ ...twin sister. My hobbies are reading and writing.» she added.

The principal nodded and looked satisfied with that short introduction and nodded. «Alright...I’ll be taking my leave then.» he said. He then pointed at the class. «Again...Be nice and welcoming to them.» he added as he started to walk out, keeping his finger pointed at them as he closed the door.

The teacher then greeted them properly, and told them to take their seats, which was the two empty desks in the room. Sol took the one close to the window in the back, and Luna took the one beside him. With that, the teacher went back to their normal ways of teaching, being very harsh and direct.

* * *

Throughout the day, Lillie had been keeping her eyes on Sol most of the time, feeling her face heat up every time she looked at him or heard him talk, laugh or even the sight of him smiling. Hau had noticed, but he knew Lillie were easy to crush on someone, so he didn’t do anything about it, though, he had noticed that Sol’s twin sister, Luna, were rather emotionless and cold looking, expect whenever Sol said something that made her flustered. The siblings were talking in Kantonese most of the time as well, despite their English being quite good. Sitting outside as usual at lunch time, Lillie had dragged Gladion along with her as usual, which was something he wasn’t to happy about. Hau could tell from the expression he made while sitting there, listening to his sister talk about the two new ones in their class, and how different they were despite them being identical twins. It just baffled her like nothing else.

«They are still two different people, Lillie...No matter how identical they are.» Hau replied to her, shaking his head.

«I know...But it’s just...fun to watch i guess? I don’t know...It’s interesting.» she said lightly clapping her hands.

«You are so fucking fixated on them...they might even start thinking that you are stalking them, Lillie...» Gladion added, scratching his cheek.

Lillie pouted and scoffed at him. «I’m not!»

«We know you ain’t, Lillie...» Hau replied to her, giving her a sheepish smile.

«I bet you already have a crush on the guy.» Gladion added.

Lillie gasped and lightly slapped his shoulder. «I’m not!! Oh my god!» she replied, gaining a faint blush on her cheeks.

While the two blondes were bantering, Hau noticed that the two new kids were wandering around on their own, and decided to wave them over, giving them the warm Alolan welcome that Alolans were so  _ well known _ for. The two exchanged glances, and he could see that the girl, Luna, had no plans on walking over, but got dragged along by her brother, Sol. Sol waved and asked if the two could join, to which Lillie flinched and looked up in a hurry, getting beet red and timid within seconds, looking down at the table, while hiding her hands under it, fiddling with the edge of her shirt. Hau told them to sit down and join them, to which they did. Gladion took a quick glance over at them, noticing that  _ Luna _ were the girl from the previous day, but she were looking rather different. It was the same girl, but she were looking quite cold and emotionless, nothing from what he could remember from the day prior, which irked his interest a little. Hau apologized first, but told them that he most likely just wanted to ask questions, which Sol said was fine, waving his hands at him.

«That’s fine. Questions can be fun.» Sol replied, smiling and chuckling.

«Sweet! Just let me know if you don’t want to answer any of them. Okay?» Hau said. Sol nodded, telling him to just  _ go for it _ .

Luna kept herself silent, and occasionally replied to a question that were aimed at her. Gladion found that rather strange on how flat she sounded, not being able to get out her voice from yesterday, that sounded like she were full of life and rather normal. He kept her in the corner of his eyes the whole time lunch were ongoing, listening to their replies. He also noticed that Lillie were silent the whole time, being beet red, to which Gladion tilted his head down, taking a look at her red colored face. She saw him and pouted, the red color getting even deeper. Gladion just smirked and rolled his eyes, shaking his head slightly at her. Sitting there at the table, Luna had been keeping her head pointed down, and her sleeves tightly held in her hands, occasionally pulling them down more. He didn’t point it out, thinking that it was probably just something Kantonese girls did when being around new people, place or region, or that she were just shy in general, which made a faint blush appear on his cheeks. He got rather surprised about himself, noticing that he were lightly blushing.

_ Do i like shy girls…? _

He shaked his head slightly, letting out a sigh, getting his thoughts on something else, which proved to be hard when he kept glancing over at her. Hau kept asking until lunch were over, Gladion getting up from his seat and telling them that they should get back to class if they didn’t want to get in trouble.

«Well...You know all about trouble, eh, Gladion?» Hau said, chuckling lightly. Lillie looked at him with big eyes in shock, her hand going over her mouth.

Gladion had taken a few steps away from the group when he said that, making him stop and look over his shoulder at him, giving him a glare. «You don’t want to know...» he muttered, continuing to walk off and into the building again.

Hau got goosebumps and the shivers. «I hate those glares...» he muttered, scrunching his face up a little.

Sol laughed softly. «Well ain’t that fun.» he said and looked over at Lillie. «He’s your brother i guess?» he asked.

Lillie looked over at him, seeing him use his index finger to circle around his head. Lillie figured it was because of their hair color and nodded. «Yeah...he’s my older brother...» she muttered softly, her eyes quickly shooting down to the table again.

«Ah, that’s cool. That’s cool.» he said. Luna then got up from the bench, and said that they should get back into class before it started, to which they all agreed to, getting up and starting to walk into the building.

* * *

After the classes, Lillie, Hau and Gladion were walking alongside Sol and Luna, having gotten to know that the two were living at the end of Route 1. Sol and Hau were chatting loudly on the way home, while Lillie were walking a little behind them, listening to what was being said. Luna were a little behind her, minding her own business and then Gladion, a few feet away from her again, wanting nothing to do with the group, but kept his eyes on Luna, his eyes fixated on her hair swaying from side to side behind her, following her soft movements. Getting over to the path leading over to Iki Town, Hau, Sol and Luna parted ways with Lillie and Gladion. Sol and Hau saying that they’ll see them tomorrow, which Lillie smiled softly at, nodding. Gladion passed her as he didn’t stop walking, which made her panic slightly, not wanting to walk alone. She quickly said goodbye and hurried after her brother, shouting for him to slow down and wait for her. Hau just shrugged, while Sol chuckled softly. Luna didn’t say anything, but watched the blonde girl hurry over to her older brother. Hau and Sol then started to walk off, while Luna followed after a few feet behind them, keeping herself silent the rest of the way home. As they got there, Luna got inside in a hurry, greeting their guardian, who Hau heard from Sol that were actually their mother, and passed her, saying that she would be in her room, studying. Their mother didn’t say anything and just nodded, listening to Sol talking a little more to Hau before they parted ways, Sol walking in and closing the door.

«Hey, mom.» he said lightly, getting his shoes off and got himself over to the dining table, sitting down. 

«Hello, and welcome home, Sol.~» she said in a cheerful voice. «How was the first day?» she asked, giving him a sweet smile.

Luna were standing in front of the door to her room, listening to the difference on how their mother talked to her and him, silently scoffing as he were telling her that he had a blast, and made some friends. Luna’s grip around the door handle tighten greatly before she opened the door, walking inside to her room and closed the door behind her. She got over to her desk, that was placed in front of the window, and placed her bag on top, digging out her notebook and pencil case before sitting down, finding a book she had started on and continued to read in. She got through some pages before she decided to stop, putting the book into a drawer before getting her notebook up, turing it up to the page she had noted down whatever that had been said in the classes she had attended that day. There wasn’t much to study after or for, so she skimmed the notes she had a few times before getting up from her chair, deciding to change out of her outfit and into something else and more comfortable. As she changed, she could hear the front door open and close, thinking that it was probably Sol that left, going to pay Hau a visit, since they apparently had a lot in common.

She stood there, in the middle of her room, just looking around for a while when she got snapped out of it, Sol knocking on her door. «Mom said that you were in charge of the dinner again...» he muttered on the other side.

Luna sighed and groaned silently. «Okay...» she replied lightly, walking over and opening the door, seeing Sol standing there with his arms crossed.

Luna gave him a glare without noticing, and walked out and over to the fridge, taking a look inside to see what there was, and what she could be making. There wasn’t much, but she could at least get some kind of food out of whatever that was left. Sol just shrugged, gotten quite used to the glares she kept sending him, not knowing why she even did it, nor why her demeanor had changed the past few years to rather cold and emotionless. He didn’t think to much about it, thinking it was because of the divorce their parents got years prior, knowing that she had a better relationship with their father, who lost any custody to see them until they were of age, something Luna wasn’t to found off. She got a few things out of the fridge and started to prepare the dinner by cutting up the vegetables that were there, Sol leaning over the counter and watched her while talking, Luna replying with short and flat replied, not seeming interested in having a conversation.

«I’ll be taking a stroll to look around a little. Is the beach fine?» he asked, knowing that she had been around a yesterday evening a little.

«It’s alright i guess...» she muttered.

«Alright...I’ll be taking my leave then.» he said, getting off the counter and over to the front door, getting his shoes on. He looked over his shoulder at her. «You know...We could order some take out for once. You don’t have to cook if you don’t want to.»

«It’s fine...» she muttered.

Sol shrugged. «Alright...If you say so.»

Sol then walked out, starting on his adventure around the place, looking around and getting somewhat familiar with the place. Luna were continuing to cut vegetables, but slowly started to clench tighter onto the knife. She placed the knife to the side, and slightly rolled up her sleeve, looking down at her arms. She shifted the gaze between her arm and the knife for a while, getting tempted, but eventually shaked her head, rolling the sleeve down again and continued with the vegetables.


	3. Genuine

As the day progressed and Luna finished preparing dinner, she let it simmer in a pot for a while, making her way over to her bedroom for a quick pit stop. She walked inside and closed the door behind her, getting over to her bed and sat down on the floor, leaning against it. She sat there for a few seconds before she reached for the drawer on her nightstand, opening it up and took out a neatly folded hand towel, placing it on the floor beside her. She stared at it a little before she unfolded it, revealing a razor blade, that had started to get rusty and dull. She rolled up her sleeve, revealing her arm with several scars  on her skin and took the blade on hand. She started to count the scars she already had, but lost track as she got closer to her wrist, the scars fading into each other and overlapping. She swallowed thickly, held her breath, and pressed the sharp end of the blade onto her skin, and slowly dragged it down, creating a crimson red line. Some of the rust from the blade had transferred onto her skin, giving it a tint of orange before the blood covered it up. Seeing the crimson color appear, she felt a slight relief coming over her. The throbbing, stinging pain mixed with the warmth felt somewhat amazing to her. In the moment, she forgot that there was vegetables on the stove as she continued to give herself a few more future scars, watching the blood slowly find its way up through her skin, slowly starting to find its way down her arm, creating a path of red behind the droplets. She swallowed thickly again, looking at her arm before she took the hand towel and wiped her arm clean before the blood dried up, and the light stains that had happened, she just wiped it away with some spit before drying it up and pulled the sleeve down over them again, hiding them until the next time she would see them.

Putting the rusty blade into the towel again, she neatly folded it and got up on her feet putting it into her nightstand again, closing the drawer. She inhaled deeply, exhaling it loudly, followed by a soft sigh. She then regained her composure, looking at herself in the mirror that was on her wall beside the door, giving herself a fake smile, despite her eyes showing a different emotion as she regained her composure and walked out to the kitchen again, finishing up the food she was making. As she got out, and continued, Sol got back inside, holding a bag from the nearby store. Luna just looked at him with a slight confusion.

«Why did you go to the store?» she asked him.

«More groceries. Mom didn’t leave much as usual, yeah?» he said, getting his shoes off and walked over to her with the bag. «Should be some meat and fish in there...so whatever you want i guess, and whatever that fits to what you are making already.» he added.

«We have tofu...» she muttered lightly.

«Bleh...» he muttered, grimacing at her. «Getting real tired of that tasteless sponge...We need some real meat for once, not that white...fake meat.» he added.

Luna sighed softly and took a look through the bag he placed on the counter. Sol had bought all kinds of meat, which made her quite surprised as she picked them up and placed them outside of the bag. Sol were looking rather proudly, adding that he loved her cooking, which made her genuinely smile softly, feeling a few tears starting to appear in her eyes. Knowing that Sol loved beef, she took that and started to prepare it, asking him to put the rest into the freezer and the fridge. Sol obliged and put the rest away, finding plates and putting that onto the dining table, making sure that his twin couldn’t run away from dinner again.

* * *

Sitting in the couch in the living room, just talking while watching a movie Sol had put on. They were talking about how school probably would go on about and what the Alolan system had on their agenda for them. Coming from a pretty cold region, it was a hard turn around starting to live in a tropical one, but it felt nice to know that they didn’t need any warm clothing unless they were going up at Mount Lanakila, where there presumably were snow at all times. The topic changed every now and then while watching the movie, and ended up about their mother, as they weren’t sure what she were working as, nor where she were working.

«Did she even tell where she’s working? Or what she’s working as?» Sol asked, thinking that Luna might know more about it than him.

Luna, who were sitting with her knees up to her chest, holding a pillow tightly just shaked her head. «No. Mom don’t really talk to me unless she needs to scold me for something...» she muttered, her voice being muffled by the pillow in front of her.

«Right...» he muttered nervously, scratching the back of his head.

He knew that Luna and their mother had quite the turbulent relationship, and that they weren’t really talking to each other unless Luna had done something their mother found bad or wrong, lashing out on her. Luna had  _ time off _ whenever their mother wasn’t around, letting her relax a little if possible. He didn’t want to bring up to much about their mother to her, as her expression dropped from a neutral to a more gloomy one. He waved his hands and brushed the subject off about their mother, continuing to watch the movie until it ended. As the movie ended, Luna got up and got it out of the player, putting the CD back into its case and onto the shelf again. Sol then got up from the couch, stretching his back, making a few joints crack into place, which made her grimace at him in disgust. Sol noticed and grinned at her, chuckling softly, to which she just sighed and rolled her eyes.

«I’ll be going for a walk...» she said lightly, walking over to the front door and got some shoes on, and grabbed a jacket.

«I’ll join. If i may that is?» Sol asked, crossing his arms while looking at her, tilting his head slightly to the side.

«Do as you please.» she flatly replied, putting the jacket on.

Sol nodded and got over, getting shoes on and grabbed a jacket as well. Luna waited for him to get ready before she grabbed a key to the place, opening the door and walked out, followed by her brother shortly. Not sure where to wander around, Luna went the same route she did the previous day, heading towards the beach, finding it relaxing with the sounds of the waves and the ocean breeze gently running across her skin and hair. As they were walking, getting to the edge of the beach, they were talking in Kantonese, joking around and going on with their shenanigans. Getting down to the waterfront, where it was easier to walk, Luna kept her eyes out at the sea, listening to Sol chattering about something he found interesting. She occasionally hummed and replied to whatever and whenever he needed a reply from her. As they kept walking, it slowly became silent between them, the only sound around were the waves and the seagulls crying above them, hovering in the air over the water. Sol stopped, looking out at the horizon and up at the sky, watching the clouds drift by rather quickly as the wind paced up slightly. Luna kept on walking, but stopped a few feet in front of him, looking behind her and at him.

«What?» she asked.

«Why do mom hate you?» he asked, looking deadpan at her.

Luna looked down at the ground, shaking her head. «Wish i knew...»

Sol sighed and hung his head, shaking it slightly. He were about to say something, but got knocked over as a dog crashed into his legs from behind, making him fall back on his ass. It happened so quickly that Luna didn’t react until Sol were yelping and sitting on the ground, groaning slightly from the fall. In the distance, Gladion came running towards them, having seen his dog run at full speed and knock Sol over.

«Null! You stupid dog!» he snarled at the canine that had stopped in the distance to gnaw on a stick it had found laying around. He looked down at Sol, who were still sitting there, giving off a loud sigh. «Sorry about that...» Gladion muttered, offering to help him up on his feet.

«It’s fine...» he groaned as he got a hold of his hand, getting up on his feet again. He dusted as much sand as possible off his pants.

Luna then snorted, which made both of the boys look at her in slight surprise. Sol grimaced and hissed at her in Kantonese, which made her laugh instead, replying in Kantonese back at him. Gladion were looking baffled at her, as she had changed again. Her laugh were rather refreshing, considering that she were looking quite emotionless at school, which was also something Lillie had mentioned a lot of times whenever she came to the topic of the new kids in her class. Sol being so lively and outgoing, while Luna were the silent and rather cold looking one. He could feel the heat go up his neck by watching her laugh rather hard as Sol approached her, hissing at her. Sol stood there, pouting and crossed his arms. He looked over at Gladion, who had a mixture of confusion and surprise on his face.

«Leave her alone...» he lightly hissed, giving his sister a glare.

«Right...» Gladion muttered, not really sure what to reply, nor do while listening and watching the two newcomers.

Sol and Gladion then ended up chatting a little, Sol telling him to just ignore Luna and let her do her own thing. While they were talking, Luna had sat herself down on her knees, petting Null as it came back with a stick between its teeth. It kept holding the stick as it got over to her, sitting down and leaning itself on her. Luna softly cooing to the canine, petting it gently. Gladion looked over at them from the corner of his eyes, but had to do a double take when he saw her soft smile.

«Your dog i guess?» Sol asked, nodding over at the canine.

«Yeah..» Gladion replied, nodding as he shifted his attention to Sol again.

«Ah, that’s cool. We had a cat back in Kanto...» he said, shrugging. «Hated that fucker...» he added in a hushed voice.

Luna heard it and chuckled. «I believe that feeling was mutual.» she replied.

Sol pointed at her. «You know how much that cat hated me...It just couldn’t stop using me as a scratch pole.» he snarled at her. Luna just waved her hand at him.

Gladion just shaked his head, watching Luna petting Null, and the canine seemingly having a great time, being as calm and content it could get. Sol and Gladion started up chatting about stuff, asking what classed each other were taking and Luna keeping herself out of the conversation, getting the stick out of the dog’s mouth and got up on her feet. She waved it a little, getting the canine excited before she threw the stick across the shore. Null sprinted at full speed towards it, giving off a few excited barks as it found it and took it, running back to her and dumped the stick in front of her feet. Luna did it a few more times until the canine got tired and dumped itself down beside her, chewing on the stick, catching its breath somewhat. Sol and Gladion were having some idle chatting, but Sol noticed that he kept looking over at his sister, but thought it was about the safety of her, considering that his dog had run him down, and probably didn’t want that to happen all over again. It was a part of the reason, but he couldn’t shake the image off his mind of her actually showing emotions after seeing her at school earlier that day. Gladion cut the conversation, telling them that he needed to get back home and get some work done, as it won’t do it self. Luna nodded, having moved herself over to Sol’s side, saying that they should head home as well, which Sol nodded at.

«Alright. See you tomorrow then i guess.» Sol said, starting to walk off and Luna walking with him.

Gladion were standing behind a little, watching the twins walk off, seeing that Sol were nudging his sister a little, which apparently made her flustered for some reason. Once they were a good distance away, Gladion looked down at Null, who were now sitting and looking up at him, tilting its head, giving off a soft whine.

«What?» he asked the canine, expecting some sort of reply. The dog just gave him a low bark, wagging its tail.

Gladion looked into the direction of the two Kantonians, feeling his cheeks warming up. He let out a soft sigh, and turned around, walking off and called for the dog to follow. Null ran past him and a little in front of him, continuing to wag its tail as it stopped, watching back at its human. Gladion just gave the dog a nod, letting it continue to run off a little. Null didn’t run to long before it stopped and waited, only for it to run off again a little until it stopped again, doing it over and over. Gladion just shaked his head, chuckling softly at the canine who kept an eye on him from a slight distance. On the way home, he kept having the image of Luna on his mind, smiling softly and laughing, which he found cute, gaining a faint pink color on his cheeks. It was quite the difference from the emotionless facade she had at school, making him quite curious about the dark haired girl.


	4. Pirate

Luna wasn’t at school the next day, and Gladion didn’t really dare to ask when he saw Sol wandering alone, at least until Hau broke the silence when he arrived down the path, looking around and asked where his sister was. Sol replied dryly that she wasn’t feeling to good, and decided to stay at home. Lillie then jumped into the conversation, asking if it might be the Alolan weather, since they were from Kanto, a region that had all the seasons, and not just one despite the autumn in Alola, which was filled with rainstorms. Sol shrugged, not really sure if that could be the case. He did know why she were at home, but didn’t want to tell their common friends, getting them worried and then bombard her with questions later. Lillie kept going on, suggesting different reasons, while Hau nodded agreeing with the blonde girl. Gladion sighed and shaked his head, telling them to just let it be, since Sol didn’t know, which he kept telling them. Sol nodded, doing his best to avoid the subject altogether. Lillie sighed and stopped, hanging her head a little, muttering that she wanted to get to know her better as well.

«Don’t worry about it. I’m sure Luna will be back tomorrow.» Sol replied to her, giving her a smile.

Lillie blushed into a deep red and nodded. «O-okay...» she muttered timidly, averting her gaze down to the ground.

Hau then started on a different subject, asking Lillie if the project had to be delivered within the day. She hummed softly, nodding, telling him that it was originally going to be handed in yesterday, but nobody did because of Sol and Luna appeared and joined the class. Sol were rather confused, not sure what they were talking about, which Hau reassured him that he’s fine and nothing he should be worrying about. Sol let out a sigh of relief, followed by a sheepish grin. Gladion kept his distance, not wanting to get involved with their conversation, but kept an close eye on how they were around each other. Lillie had relaxed more, despite being really timid the previous day, speaking her mind and talking more. Hau were as talkative as usual, keeping the conversation going with whatever he managed to blurt out. Hau were as usually very loud, and people could hear him from miles away even, which was rather annoying, and now that Sol were getting into the mix, he already knew that he would enable him to the fullest. Getting closer to the school, Hau slowly started to lower his voice, as he had gotten in trouble quite a few times already for being to loud and disrupting the class. Walking into the building, Gladion did a right turn, as his class were in the different direction, as well as not in their class, being a year older than them. As he walked down the hallway, there was a lot of whispers and rumors about him. He didn’t like them in the beginning, but the more he reacted to them, the more people talked about it, so he managed to contain himself and not flare up and lash back at what was being said.

As he were to get inside of his classroom, something hit him in the back of his head, hearing giggles and soft chuckles behind him. He looked over his shoulder, looking at the item that someone had thrown at him. An empty paper cup was laying on the floor, slightly moving as it settled down. Looking in the different direction, seeing whoever it was and sent them a quick glare before he walked in, getting to his desk and sitting down, letting out a soft sigh as he found a pen and a notebook, starting to scribble down a few scribbles while waiting for the class to start up. While sitting there, he overheard a few of his classmates talking about the new kids. Some of the girls kept going on that Sol were rather cute and seemed nice, while some of the boys were talking about Luna, wondering why she were so emotionless looking, speculating that she were on drugs or anything of the sorts, which made his eyes grew wide. It could explain why she were so different outside of classes, being quite lively and  _ alive _ . It was at least something he could ask Sol about, just to get that out of the way, but had to make sure that he were alone with him, not wanting to get Lillie worried, nor Hau involved in it. Listening to what they were speculating about, the choice of asking Sol about it seemed like the right thing.

* * *

While everyone were in class, Luna were sitting at home in her room. She sat on her bed in silence, controlling her breathing as not to be to loud. Their mother had gotten home earlier that morning, being quite hungover, and still a bit on the drunk side, when they were getting ready to leave for the day. Luna tried to help her over to her bedroom, but as she got inside, their mother went berserk on her. Cursing and calling her names, which ended up with her hitting her straight in the face, giving her a massive black eye. It appeared in mere seconds on her face, making her take the choice of just staying at home for once, not wanting to give fellow classmates anything to talk about, being new and all in Alola. Sol were quite horrified, seeing the bruise in such a short amount of time, but understood that she didn’t want anyone to see and told her that he would just make some excuse up for whoever asked where she was.

«You sure you’ll be fine here at home with mom like that…?» he asked, standing in front of the door.

«I’ll...manage i guess...» she muttered, holding an icepack on her face as he were about to leave.

«You sure about that? We both know that mom is...» he started, but paused, looking down the hallway to the main bedroom, where she was sleeping.

«A bitch? I’m aware...» she muttered. «Just go...if you get any homework or anything, you can just give them to me when you are home...we are in the same class after all.» she added.

Sol nodded slightly. «Alright. If you say so.» he said and opened the door. «Take care, Lu.» he added and walked out, closing the door behind him.

After he had left, Luna put the ice pack back into the freezer and walked into her room, changing into some casual clothes, and a hoodie, since most of her long sleeved shirts were in the laundry, being ready to get thrown into the washing machine. Once she was done changing into something else, she placed herself on the bed and sat there for a while, just feeling the throbbing pain on her left side of her face. She kept poking it a little while sitting there, but eventually got up from the bed, letting out a soft sigh as she walked out of her room and over to the laundry room, putting on the machine and get something done while being there, since their mother wouldn’t lift a finger whenever she were hungover. As that were running, she got out to the kitchen, ending up standing there, looking rather lost and not sure what she would be doing. Looking around the kitchen a little, she started to poke her face again, confirming it to herself that it was still painful. Letting out another soft sigh, she got over to the freezer, opening it up and grabbing the ice pack again, placing it on her face as she closed it again, walking over to the dining table, sitting down and kept holding it. She could hear their mother groan and trash around in her bed, which made her roll her eyes, shaking her head slightly.

* * *

Around the last recess, Gladion got over to Sol, asking him if he could have a few words with him, planning to ask about the few rumors that had started to appear about Luna, and him as well. Sol nodded and walked off with him to a different part of the school, where the two could be in private. Sol were rather curious as of why, but understood when Gladion started asking.

«Heard the rumors already?» he asked.

Sol chuckled sheepishly. «Yeah...I have heard a few already...and we haven’t been here for a week yet.» he replied, shaking his head in disbelief. « _ The warm Alolan welcome _ i guess?» he added.

«Something like that….Anyway...» Gladion started, pausing and looked around a little, crossing his arms. «Heard of the rumor of your sister being on drugs?»

«She what now?» Sol exclaimed in surprise. «You have to be kidding me...something like that is already around?»

«Yeah. And i can find the reason quite plausible even.» Gladion muttered.

«How so?» Sol lightly hissed, putting his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

«The fact that she were quite cold and emotionless the first day.» Gladion added shortly.

Sol nodded. «Oh...that. That’s pretty normal actually. She have always been like that around people...» he said, only to start thinking about the previous evening, when the twins met up with Gladion by chance at the beach. «You are one of the few lucky ones that have actually seen her true self. I’m impressed.» he added shortly, looking rather surprised at him.

«What do you mean...?»

«Lu being all lively is a rare sight. At least in public that is.» Sol said, still looking quite surprised. He looked at him, dead in the eye. «And no...Lu don’t do drugs. I would have noticed a long time ago if she did.»

«Then how come she ain’t around today?» he asked, his voice being quite firm.

«Heh...Not sure if i even should spill the beans...» Sol muttered. «Ah well...» he added shortly, shrugging. «Our mother came home quite hungover, and still a bit on the drunk side...While Luna helped her to her room, she ended up lashing out on her, hitting her square in her face.» he said, pointing and gesturing around his left eye.

«Your mother hit her…? Are you serious?» he asked, sounding quite surprised. Being from a quite neglectful family himself, he had never been hit by his mother, only getting the verbal abuse.

«Yeah...» Sol replied, hesitating. «She didn’t want to be around and start anything, which have apparently already happened...» he added, followed by a sigh.

Gladion were rather speechless, and were about to say something but got interrupted by the school bell ringing. Sol nodded in the direction of the main building, telling him that they should get going to the last class, which he nodded at. Sol then turned around, starting to walk off towards the building. Gladion stood behind a little, processing what Sol have told him. He couldn’t help himself being baffled of what Sol had told him. Her mother hit her. Starting to approach the building, he came to think over that his and Lillie’s mother were quite neglectful, but she never hit them.

* * *

As the last class ended, they all headed home. On the way, Sol and Hau were chatting as usual, while Lillie had left for Akala Island, wanting to pay Professor Burnet a visit, knowing that she always enjoyed her company and found whatever research she had done interesting. Gladion were walking a few feet behind the two, watching them talk and have fun. Getting to the crossroad, they headed up towards Iki Town, while he kept on going straight, but noticed a figure in the distance, wearing a hoodie as they found their way down to the beach. Kinda already knowing who it was, he didn’t waste any time to follow after them, finding them walking down to the waterline and sit down, presumably looking out at the horizon. He silently walked over, stopping behind them and put his hands in his pockets.

«How come you are sitting here?» he asked looking rather unfaced when they slightly moved their head.

«Needed fresh air...» the female voice said, dragging the hoodie more over her head.

«Is that so? Could have gotten that at school as far as i know.» he replied flatly, getting over to her side and sat down. «Sol told me what happened this morning...You okay?» he asked. Him asking and acting worried were strange and new to him, but he felt it was needed, as well as he could relate to an extent.

«Of course he couldn’t keep his mouth shut...And i’m fine, thanks for asking.» she replied dryly, not looking over at him.

«How bad is it?»

«Bad...» she muttered.

He scoffed. «Can’t be that bad...» he said, reaching over to her chin, forcing her to look in his direction.

Her eyes grew wide in surprise, meeting his emerald green eyes, who were slowly growing wider when he saw her bruised up face. Literally half of her face were in different shades of blue and yellow. She lightly slapped his hand away, turning away from him, getting quite flustered and gaining a deep red color on her cheeks. «I told you it was bad...» she hissed.

«Sorry...» he muttered softly, not sure what else to say, as that was probably one of the biggest bruises he had seen up to date, and he had seen a fair share, even had a fair share in the past. Looking out at the horizon, he asked why she was at the beach, for the third time even.

«It’s calming.» she quickly replied, her voice sounding incredibly soft as she said it.

Gladion hummed softly, looking at her from the corner of his eyes. The hoodie had slipped back a little, revealing her face, and her bangs, that were gently moving by the soft breeze. «So...When’s the eyepatch coming up?» he asked, trying to lighten the mood up.

Luna scrunched her face, pouting lightly. «Har har...I’m not a pirate.» she lightly hissed at him.

«Can’t recall pirates sounding like that...» he replied, looking at her with a rather smug look on his face.

«Pirates usually say  _ Yar _ or something similar...dumbass...» she hissed. Gladion then smirked, which she noticed and slowly turned to look at him, glaring. «You made me say  _ it _ .»

«Have no idea what you are talking about...» he replied, starting to chuckle lightly. «Ow...» he muttered as she gave him a play punch on his arm, still pouting and glaring at him. Though, he could see that she had a hard time keeping the upset facade up, as her lips slowly curved up.

She turned her head away from him, doing her best to conceal the snort she let out, finding it rather funny that he made her say it. Hearing her light snort made him smile proudly. «I hate you...» she muttered, trying to sound mad at him.

«I hear that a lot.» he replied in a smug, sarcastic tone.

Luna slowly looked over at him, raising her fist at him. Gladion leaned away from her, having his hand up in defeat as he admitted that he had lost. He chuckled softly, which ended up with her chuckling lightly as well. They ended up sitting there for a while, just having some idle chatter and a few laughs while looking out at the horizon, listening to the waves and the seagulls crying. Gladion took a quick look at the time on his phone, and got up onto his feet, saying that he should head back and start on his homework, as they had been sitting there for a while. He reached out his hand for her, offering to help her up, which she accepted. Getting up on her feet, she dusted the sand off her back a little before they walked off towards the main path, parting ways there.

Being in the distance a little, Gladion turned around. «Don’t forget your eyepatch tomorrow!» he shouted at her. Luna just turned and gave him the finger, making him chuckle and shake his head, watching her walk off a little before he continued heading home himself.


	5. Quick Glance

A few more days had passed and the bruise on Luna’s face had subsided, slowly fading away. She were still quite yellow looking from it, but it wasn’t as visible from a certain distance. Gladion had taken on the blame whenever the topic came up around him, telling fellow students that it was his fault, since his dog ran her down the day prior to her not appearing in classes the next day. As unbelievable the explanation was, people didn’t question it more, finding that a good enough reason and shrugged it off, continuing with their life. Despite rumors flaring up and getting debunked quickly, there was always someone who kept questioning them, believing that they were true. When Sol told her about the drug rumor, she scoffed and rolled her eyes.

«Of course...Just like Kanto.» she muttered, shaking her head.

«I guess. Though this one came around rather quickly.» he replied to her. Luna just hummed softly, nodding.

«It’s a rumor...It will die down pretty quickly if you won’t feed into it in any way.» Lillie said, giving Luna a sweet smile. Sol just nodded at what she said, agreeing.

Still having one class left, Luna worked diligently on getting notes down, knowing that she would most likely get hit if she didn’t prove that she did study to their mother. As much as Sol were around, he had never really seen her getting hit, or having any bruises, other than the hit on her face. He didn’t know the extent of how their mother was towards her, and why they were on the warpath whenever they saw each other. While she were taking notes, Lillie, Hau and Sol kept chatting, keeping it low so the teacher wouldn’t notice. Lillie did note down a few things occasionally, not wanting to fall behind, nor seem like she didn’t pay any attention. The teacher kept on going with the subject, being very passionate about it, at least it sounded like that the way they spoke, all energetic and optimistic. As the bell rang, people started to gather their stuff and pack up, leaving for the day. It was also friday, which meant that it was weekend. Hau asked on the way out it they wanted to do something this weekend, even if it was just hanging and wandering around Hau’oli city. Sol was all in, wanting to get a good look at the city on Melemele, not being to familiar. Luna didn’t say anything, thinking that she would most likely just stay behind and keep her attention in studies. Depending if their mother were around or not at least. Lillie then mentioned that she couldn’t, having promised that she would join Gladion at his game.

«Game?» Sol asked, finding it interesting.

«Yeah. Brother plays Volleyball...and there’s a game this weekend.» she replied, smiling. «Oh! Why don’t you tag along?» she then asked.

«He don’t really look like the type to be into sport.» Sol added.

«He isn’t...Mother forced him to do it, and the team kept picking him...so...» she said, shrugging. «He have just figured that he’ll do it until he’s done, since there apparently isn’t any escape from it.»

«Why don’t we just watch his game? And then hang around in Hau’oli City later?» Hau then suggested, placing his hands behind his head, leaning back in the chair he was sitting it.

«Oh! That’s a great idea!» Lillie exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly. «I’m sure he’ll hate it, but i don’t care about that!» she added shortly, giggling.

«Alright. That’s the plan then. You tagging along, Lu?» Sol said, turning over to Luna as he asked her.

«I don’t know.» she muttered, picking up her bag.

«Come on. We didn’t get any homework, so the weekend is free.» Sol replied, giving off a soft whine at her.

«It’s not until tomorrow, right?» she asked, looking over at Lillie.

Lillie nodded. «Yeah, tomorrow morning.»

«I’ll think about it until then.» she replied, and got up from the chair, fixing her shirt and stepped away from the chair.

Hau and Lillie nodded and didn’t think more about it, just hoping that she would tag along. Sol knew he would drag her with them anyway, so she had no chance of escaping the next day. Getting out of the classroom and building, Gladion didn’t join them, as he had practice for the game the next day, and he wasn’t feeling to happy about it. Walking out of the campus grounds, they passed the outdoor field, which was when Lillie noticed that the volleyball team were practicing outside and pointed it out to them. Everyone looked to their side, seeing that the team were having a mock-up game. Lillie proudly told them how good he was and that he could possibly get a scholarship if he prusaded it, but he didn’t want to, having other plans. Luna took a quick glance, and at that exact second, he shifted his gaze to his front, meeting her eyes. It felt like several minutes before she looked away in a hurry gaining a faint blush on her cheeks. Gladion shifted his onto the game again, just in time for the ball to fly over his head, letting the guy behind him take the hit. The game continued, and him trying to ignore the fact that Luna were watching, making him slightly conscious about his performance. Lillie clapped lightly and started to skip ahead, Hau, Sol and Luna following shortly after her. Lillie kept talking about how she wanted to find something she would be good at, which Sol replied at that she would eventually find it. Lillie smiled sweetly at him and nodded.

«I’m sure i will one day!» she said, holding her fists up in front of her, giving a determined pose. Sol and Hau laughed, giving her the thumbs up as they continued off.

* * *

Getting home, Luna found her way to her room quickly, not wanting to see nor greet their mother, who was still at home and in the kitchen, doing her own thing. Sol greeted her, and got a warm welcome as usual from her. Luna placed her bag on her desk and got some clean clothes from her wardrobe, going to the bathroom and taking a shower. Sol met her in the hallway, and slightly pouted at her.

«I was thinking about a shower...» he muttered to her.

«Won’t help by just thinking.» she flatly replied, walking inside and closing the door to the bathroom, locking it. Sol just grumbled slightly as he got into his room, finding some clean clothes himself.

In the bathroom, she placed the clean clothes on the counter, and slowly stripped out of her clothes. While getting out of the clothes, she found a towel, getting it ready and easy to grab when she were done. Putting the dirty clothes into the laundry basket, she looked at her arms, seeing the many scars she had, as well a few new ones, that were at least a day old. As much as she wanted to quit, she just didn’t know how to, being to deep into the whole ordeal of using herself as a cutting board. She sighed softly and got into the shower, closing the glassdoor behind her and turned the water on. Getting the water to a comfortable temperature, she quickly got her hair wet and shampooed it, the soap going into the cuts, stinging greatly as she hurried to get the shampoo out of her hair, washing it off her arms. She washed the soap off, seeing that the cuts were getting red from it, making her scrub more, and more, and more, until she had scratched them up again, seeing the crimson color appear again. She just stood there, watching it appear as the water kept running down on her. She sighed softly, closing her eyes and turned her head upwards, letting the water hit her face gently.

_ Why can’t it just...stop… _

Sol were sitting in the living room, munching on an apple as Luna walked out, adjusting the long sleeved shirt she was wearing. He gave her a nod, and told her that their mother had left a few minutes ago, giving him the same information as always. Luna were in charge of the dinner, and he could, more or less, just do as he pleased. Luna nodded and said that she wouldn’t start on anything, seeing that he were already eating, which he nodded at.

«Just get yourself something to eat then. I’ll be fine.» he said and kept munching on the fruit.

«Hai hai...» she muttered and turned around, walking into the kitchen to take a look at what there was to make, or eat as is.

Sol finished the apple and got up from his seat, starting to walk down the hallway and getting his clean set of clothes, getting into the shower himself. «You  _ are _ going to join us watching his game tomorrow.» he said before he closed and locked the bathroom door.

Luna just rolled her eyes, as she still had no plans on joining them, but would admit to herself that she was curious about it, never have been to a game of any kind. She got over to the fridge and opened it, seeing a few groceries, but not a lot. She picked out some salad and some of the left over chicken from yesterday, planning to prepare a chicken salad for herself. While cutting up some of the salad, putting it into a bowl, she could hear Sol sing, which was a habit of his. Singing in the shower. As funny as it was when it started, it had gradually gotten annoying, mostly because he was a terrible singer, and butchered whatever song he started on. She did her best to ignore it as she kept making a simple meal for herself.

* * *

Hau arrived after a while, and ended up sitting in the living room with Sol, chatting and laughing about everything. As they kept on being loud, Luna took the opportunity to leave for a walk as usual. She got her regular hoodie on and shoes, walking out and headed towards the beach, wanting to walk while listening to the waves and the seagulls screeching around her, thinking that it would get her mind off a few things. She did give Sol a heads up before she left, as for him not to worry if she were gone all of a sudden. He gave her a small wave, wishing her a good walk and continued talking with Hau as she walked out. It didn’t take long before she was there, and decided to take her shoes off, walking barefoot. She also rolled the sleeves on her jeans up, not wanting any sand on them. Picking up the shoes, she walked down to the water, starting to walk across, with her feet barely being touched by the seawater as it gently moved up to the shore from the waves. It was cold, but it felt rather nice and soothing at the same time.

Slowly finding her way across, she stopped, looking up at the sky, seeing clouds pass by, seagulls hovering and screeching, minding their own business, as well as the sky had started to turn orange from the sun setting. She could feel tears starting to appear in her eyes, and did her best to hold them back, but to no avail as they started to run down her cheeks. She looked down, lifting her arm up and looked into her palm, wanting an answer that she couldn’t find in her hand. She clenched her fist, hard, as she looked out in front of her, tears still rolling down her cheeks, listening to the screeches of the seagulls while inhaling deeply, swallowing thickly before she exhaled it rather loudly, wiping her eyes and cheeks with her arm, shaking her head a little.

_ Get a hold of yourself, Luna… _

_ Just… _

_ Get a hold of yourself… _

She took a few more steps out towards the water, getting her feet fully submerged. Her hair was lightly flowing from the breeze that came from the sea, tickling her skin ever so gently, but stung a little as it got to her eyes, drying them up rather quickly, which was ideal, but it only made her eyes water more, getting to dry from it. She wiped her eyes again, hoping that it would help before she looked around a little. For the past couple of days when she were out walking at this time, she would bump into Gladion, who usually were out walking his dog; Null, letting the canine run around as it pleased on the beach. He was nowhere to be seen, but she knew it was mostly because of his game the next day, having to prepare for it. She came to remember the brief moment when their eyes met after classes earlier that day. She didn’t know him, but felt her neck and face heat up, her heart slightly beat faster in her chest. She cleared her throat in an attempt to calm down her heart that was beating faster than usual, shaking her head a little again, snapping herself out of it. She had never crushed on someone before, so she didn’t know what to expect, it all being very new. She knew it was pure coincidence that he looked up at the same time when she looked over, but couldn’t shake the feeling that he noticed that she was there, and was going to take a look. The thought that he knew made her cheeks get even redder, swallowing thickly at the thought, getting quite flustered and slightly panicking from it. She started to walk off from the spot she were standing still at, which made her slowly calm down, only to get flustered and red again when she thought that his eyes were quite pretty. She had seen his eyes up close before, but it was just now that she got flustered over it, starting to overthink every little detail from that single and brief glance.

_ Emerald green eyes... _


	6. Game Day

Sol barged into Luna’s room the next morning, making her flinch awake and instantly sit up as he called her name, telling her to get up and get ready. It was saturday, and she had plans on sleeping in for once and hoped that he had forgotten about her and just left. He stood there, in the middle of her room, just looking at her with his arms crossed and a grin across his face. Luna looked confused and surprised at him, which slowly turned into a pout, hissing for him to get out. He kept standing there and hummed softly.

«You hoped that i forgot, yeah? Think again, Lulu-ne.» he said, looking rather smug.

«One can only hope...» she muttered and pointed at the door. «Out.»

Sol raised his hands in defeat and turned around, walking out. He turned in the door as he heard her sigh loudly. «I’ll be waiting in the living room.» he added and walked out, closing the door.

He chuckled as he walked down the hallway, which made her growl lightly. She sat around a little, stretching her back and arms and yawning before she pulled the covers away and got out of the bed. She got over to her wardrobe and got a pair of jeans and a black tank top. Knowing that she would wear either a hoodie or a jacket, to cover the scars she had on her arms. She quickly got dressed and got out, hurrying over to the bathroom to finish her morning routine. Sol were getting impatient, and shouted for her to hurry up, since he had recently gotten a text message from Lillie, asking if he were on his way and if Luna were going to join, which he replied with that they were about to leave. Luna hurried, starting to get stressed out as she got out of the bathroom, and into her room again, hissing at him to be patient, and that he could have left already. He just rolled his eyes, silently imitating her while she got some makeup on and putting her jacket. Running her fingers through her hair, she walked out to the living room, hissing at Sol for him to get ready himself, since she only needed shoes on her. He snorted and nodded, following after her to the front door. They got their shoes on and left, not bothering to give their mother a notice, knowing that she were sleeping and didn’t want to get disturbed. Luna were feeling uneasy when they walked out of the front door, locking it as they left and headed towards Hau’oli City, meeting up with Hau and Lillie there, since they didn’t know where the game would take place. It didn’t take too long to get to Hau’oli, seeing Hau and Lillie waiting around. Hau noticed them first, and waved, which made Lillie look in the direction, wave at them as well. Sol waved back, grinning widely. Luna gave a small wave, trying to look neutral and not grumpy, as she wasn’t to pleased by getting woken up in a hurry.

* * *

Getting to the hall were the game were going to take place. Hau, Sol and Luna found some seats while Lillie went down to find Gladion, telling him that she was there and had company with her as well. Gladion thinking that Hau was the only one with her, he got surprised to know that Sol and Luna also had tagged along, which made him a little self conscious, starting to think that he actually had to do a good job while being in the game. Lillie said that they would be watching the whole game, and then probably walk around Hau’oli City, since Sol and Luna haven’t really been looking around that much yet, and she wanted to show them around.

«Want to tag along when the game is over?» she asked cheerfully.

«I don’t know...» he muttered, crossing his arms. «I’ll give it a thought when the game is over.»

Lillie nodded. «Alright. I’ll let the others know that you might join. Have fun and do you best.~» she said, giving him a sweet smile.

«Will do.» he replied, giving her a light nod and a soft smile. Lillie smiled softly and left heading over to the other three.

Gladion got called over by some of his team mates, telling him that they should get out to the field and get ready. He nodded and walked over, joining them for a brief talk by their trainer before walking out, lining up. Lillie got over to the others, sitting beside Luna and told them that he would think about it after the game if he wanted to join them in Hau’oli or not.

«I’m sure he won’t, being tired from the game and all...» she muttered, hanging her head a little.

«It’s to be expected. He’s been playing and probably just want to rest for the rest of the day.» Sol added.

«Yeah, i agree with Sol. Though, let’s hope he have some energy left. I really want everyone to hang out, even if he’s a grump.» Hau said, shrugging.

Lillie huffed. «He’s not a grump...»

«He’s very much a grump whenever i’m around at least.» Hau said, giving her a sheepish smile.

Lillie groaned, knowing that it was the cause, but it was mostly because he found the guy overly annoying and loud. Sol and Luna exchanged looks, not sure what they were talking about, since they didn’t know him, nor the two very well yet. Sitting around, listening to the chatter around the place, which wasn’t full, but the twins noticed a few familiar faces, and noticing that the opposing team were from Jotho, with a few Kantonese players in as well, most likely borrowing them for the match. Sol frowned at the sight, knowing that Jotho were known to cheat in whatever way possible, bending the rules to their advantage. They knew that Kantonese and Jothonese were looked at superior in everything, making them intimidate other teams with just a look. Luna nudged him slightly, getting his attention and shaked her head, gesturing for him to just leave it be.

«We ain’t here to pick a fight with old teammates.» she told him in a hushed voice.

«I’m aware…but i literally quit after i figured that they were cheating...» he lightly hissed, keeping his eyes on them on the other side.

«I know. Just keep your cool.» she muttered softly.

Sol just waved his hand at her, nodding and dismissing what she was saying. He already knew he wasn’t there to pick a fight, but couldn’t help getting heated by the sight, recalling old memories. Luna had her fair share of bad memories from that time as well, being called the  _ Ice Queen _ because of her cold and emotionless demeanor. The area were playing loud music as the two teams got out onto the field, getting in position to start the game. The Jotho team were talking in Jothonese, which was very similar to Kantonese, making it easy for Sol and Luna to understand what they were saying, planning out the different strategies between themselves. The judged for into place and the music got turned off, getting the game started after a quick game of rock, paper & scissors. Lillie were watching in excitement as it started, watching the Alolan team and her brother play, and do quite well for the first few rounds.

* * *

After the first half of the game were done, Luna decided to leave to get something to eat, not having eaten yet. She had noticed a kiosk close by, so she decided to head there. She let the others know and got up from the seat, walking off and out. Lillie offered her to join her, which Luna declined, saying that she wanted to look a little around as well, getting familiar with the place on her own. Lillie nodded and smiled softly to her.

«Alright. You got my number a few days ago, so just give me a text if you get lost, and i’ll get to you.» she said.

«I will. Thanks, Lillie.» she said and walked off.

She got to the entrance, and stopped for a second, since the music started up again, catching her attention and looked down at the field. She looked straight at Gladion as he lifted his t-shirt up, using it to wipe the sweat from his face as he were chatting with one of his teammates. Her eyes darted right to his abdomen, getting slightly wide eyed and deep red while staring. She quickly averted her gaze, hurrying off and out, starting to get flustered.

_ Oh my god...he’s toned… _

The thought got her even more flustered, which some of the Jothonese watchers noticed, as well as knowing her from before. The group, consisting of girls who were there to watch their team got up from their seats, and decided to pay Luna a visit, since it had been a while. They were all giggling and talking between themselves, all wondering why their  _ old friend _ were getting flustered, which was something new from the Kantonese girl, never having seen her express any emotion. Luna quickly got over to the kiosk, and got herself a bottle of water and something to eat. While eating on the sandwich she had bought, she kept being flustered, blushing into a deeper red every time her mind drifted off to his toned abdomen. She shaked her head, trying to shake the image off her mind, which proved to be hard to do. She kept munching on the sandwich a little before she heard some giggles behind her, looking over her shoulder and saw a group of familiar faces. They looked straight at her, and walked right up to her, acting condescending towards her.

«Well look who it is? It’s the  _ Ice Queen _ . Haven’t melted yet?» one of them said, placing her hands on her hips, while the others around her giggled and nodded.

Luna frowned lightly. «Isn’t Alola the best place to be an  _ Ice Queen _ at?» she replied, opening the bottle of water and took a quick sip, not breaking eye contact with them.

They approached her, slowly backing her up into a secluded corner while calling her names, giving their opinion on who and how she was. One of them after a while of name calling mentioned that Luna used to cut herself on her arms, which made her eyes get wide in surprise, as she thought she had kept it well hidden and out of sight. When they saw her surprised expression, they all chuckled and smirked mischievously at her. Some of them grabbed her, and pinned her to the wall, while others grabbed her arms, holding them straight out and pulled the sleeves of her jacket up, revealing the many scars she had, holding her arms tightly and pinned, making it hard to shake them off. The supposed leader of the group pulled a needle out from a sewing kit she had in her bag, looking at it and making sure it was sharp. She looked at her and smirked, saying something that Luna didn’t catch, getting too panicked to even hear, nor think properly just looking at her placing the sharp end of the needle onto her skin. She took a firm grip under her arm and started to use the needle to cut through her, carving in a word. It took a few carving sessions until they managed to draw any blood from her, giggling and chuckling while doing it.

It was painful, and she didn’t manage to get any sound out, just watching the sight in front of her, and the word that was now embedded into her skin. The sight of her blood, with the mixture of pain and the smell was making her light headed, just making her stare at her arm. The group were giggling mischievously and once she was done carving the word into her arm, letting her go and pushed her so hard that she collapsed onto the floor with a thud. They kept giggling at the sight, talking her down some more before they walked off, figuring that the game would start up again shortly, and wanted a good look at the game, as well as checking out the boys that were playing. Leaving her in the corner and on the floor, they headed towards the door leading out to the arena, only to stop and lighty gasp when one of the players from the Alolan team walked out. Luna had gotten up on her feet rather quickly and wiped her face, having felt some tears roll down her cheeks from the  _ carving session _ , and starting to walk out of the corner and turned the corner, getting startled when she looked up, seeing Gladion looking equally as surprised as her. Her cheeks were still looking tear stained, and despite the sleeve of her jacket covering up her arm again, the blood were still rolling down her arm, making it rather visible. Gladion were out to get a new bottle of water real quick before the game were about to start again. Luna quickly looked down at the floor, feeling embarrassed by looking like she did.

Gladion looked down, quickly seeing the blood being on her hand, realizing that it’s not old blood stains. «You okay?» he asked, sounding concerned.

«Y-yeah...i’m fine...» she muttered lightly.

«No offence...but you don’t look fine.» he replied to her.

«Really...i’m fine.» she said again, starting to pass him.

He didn’t buy it and as she were about to pass him, he grabbed her arm, making her flinch and yelp lightly in pain. «I don’t believe that for a second.» he replied.

She tried to tell him again that she were fine, but in that second, he dragged up her sleeve, seeing the source where the blood came from, as well as the many other scars on her arm. His serious expression changed to a mixture of surprise and horror. He didn’t know what to say, but didn’t like the word that was carved into her skin, and as he kept looking at it, he heard a light gasp of horror behind him, taking a quick look over his shoulder and realized that she didn’t do that to herself. Luna looked away in embarrassment, having been able to hide it for years, even from Sol, who were around her almost 24/7. He didn’t stay around for long, but turned and dragged her along, keeping himself silent and passed the girl group, who were shocked to see Luna getting dragged with him. Luna didn’t manage to react as he dragged her with him, not knowing where they were going, but it was definitely not up to the arena and to the three others. They ended up in the locker rooms, going into the women’s locker room, knowing that there wasn’t anyone there, and that the first aid kit there had never been used yet, he forced her to sit down on one of the benches while he found it and got back to her, starting to patch her up.

Luna got even more embarrassed and her cheeks flared up in a deep red color, looking down at her arms while he cleaned the wound up and put on some bandage. «Never thought this was something you would do.» he said while putting the bandage around her arm as gently as possible.

«There’s a lot you don’t know about me...» she said.

«True.» he muttered softly. 

But you seem rather interesting…

«Why do you even care…?» she asked looking at her arm as he finished patching her up.

He didn’t say anything and only showed her the many scars he had on his arms. «Because i know how it feels.» he flatly replied. She didn’t know what to say, and only watched him as he packed the first aid kit up and got up from the bench, walking over to the locker were the kit were found, putting it back.

«Sorry...» she muttered.

«For what?» he replied with a half hearted chuckle.

«Bringing up bad memories i guess...»

He got over to her again, crossing his arms while standing there in front of her. «That’s fine. I stopped a little over a year ago...Don’t have any plans on going back to it either.» he said to her, sounding quite gentle. Luna hummed softly and nodded.

She got up from the bench and dragged the sleeve down over her arm again, muttering  _ thank you _ to him. He nodded and said it wasn’t a problem, grabbing the water bottle of his. Hearing that the music outside stopped, he knew the game was about to start again, and grabbed her other wrist, dragging her with him while saying that they should get out of there, and that he still had a game to play in. Luna just hummed softly, not sure what to reply to him. Getting out of the locker rooms, he just dragged her with him to the sitting area for his teammates, placing her there.

«VIP seats.» he murmured, giving her a smug smirk and placed his water bottle beside her before getting out in the field and starting to play again.

Luna sunk in her seat, being very uncomfortable and felt like everyone were keeping their eyes on her, pulling the sleeves of her jacket more down. His teammates that were on the bench kept whispering between themselves, not really able to look away from the dark haired girl, muttering and speculated that Gladion had gotten himself a girlfriend, who appeared to be one of the newcomers at school. Luna hear the whispers, but couldn’t hear what they were saying, though, she figured it was about her, and tried her best to keep a straight face, considering that her cheeks were as red as they could get.


	7. Hau'oli

After the game, Gladion joined them to wander around Hau’oli City. His plans were to just get home right away after the game, but Lillie grabbed his arm as he were to walk away, forcing him with them. Hau kept Sol and Luna busy while Lillie dragged her brother with her until it became too late to escape. They had been at the malasada shop, since Hau wanted to get one. Sol were rather interested in trying one, so he got one himself as well. Luna were rather suspicious of it, not finding it appetizing nor interesting. Lillie and Gladion didn’t get any, as they just weren’t hungry. Lillie kept Luna company while walking around, and Hau kept Sol busy while they were munching on a malasada each. Gladion were a few feet behind them, watching and listening to them talk while wandering around. Looking over at Luna, he got curious of how long she had been cutting herself, and why he found her looking rather distressed, despite her trying to look normal. After walking around, Luna found herself walking alone, as Lillie had hurried up to Hau and Sol, joining their conversation since they said something that peaked her interest. Gladion took the opportunity to walk up to her, planning to ask. He got up beside her and opened his mouth, starting to ask.

«I have done it for years.» she flatly told him before he even could ask. He just looked at her in surprise while she looked up at him, giving him a knowingly look. «Yes, i could tell that you were going to ask.»

«What about that word then? Did you...»

«No.»

«Who?» he then asked, his voice being unusually soft.

«Acquaintances...from Jotho.» she replied, looking in front of her. 

«I guess that your brother don’t know about it.» he said, looking up front at Lillie, who were smiling and having fun.

Luna hummed softly and nodded. «He don’t, and doesn't need to know...» she said lightly. «Knowing that you have done the same, i guess Lillie didn’t know about it either.»

«She figured it out on her own. As well as catching me in the act once.» he replied.

«Sorry to hear that...» she muttered.

«It’s fine. I needed to stop anyway.» he said, looking over at her. «And so should you.» he flatly added.

Lillie looked over her shoulder real quick, thinking about calling for Luna to get up to them, only to see her talking with Gladion. It was quite the shock for her, seeing that her brother were talking to someone else than her or Hau on his own. She didn’t say much, letting them be while she continued to chat with Hau and Sol. Walking through the city, Lillie pulled Sol and Hau off with her. Turning the corner, they were out of sight from them, both the boys being confused as of why she dragged them away, watching Gladion and Luna pass, seemingly not noticing that they were gone.

«Why did you drag us away?» Sol asked, looking over at Hau real quick, seeing that he just shrugged.

«Brother is talking to Luna, and i don’t want to ruin it!» she said in a cheerful voice.

«And why is that such a big deal…?» he asked her, raising an eyebrow.

«Gladion don’t really talk to anyone, so i’m happy to see that he does for once.» she replied, slightly hissing it without noticing.

«How come?» Sol asked, not sure why she would say anything like that.

Lillie looked at him and smiled sweetly. «He just...have a hard time opening up.» she said. Sol just looked over at Hau, thinking that he knew something, which he didn’t, just giving him a shrug.

Lillie then decided to explain it to them a little. Sol were listening intently, while Hau knew some of it. Gladion being a part of the Team Skull gang back in the day, which was causing a lot of trouble, him, apparently, starting to do self harm at the time, and with the added stress from their mother, nagging him about him getting ready to take over the Aether company in the future. Sol were baffled from what she told, mostly because of the  _ taking over Aether _ ordeal the guy was in.

«No wonder why he’s stressed and went to this Skull team in my opinion...Kinda a way to get away i guess.» he said, shrugging.

«I guess...But the stress is still a major part, making him be the loner he’s known to be around in Alola.» Lillie muttered, looking down at the ground.

«He got out of the self harm stuff after a while, so he’s on the right track, if i can say so myself.» Hau added, smiling.

Lillie nodded. «True. Well...anyway...» she said, pausing and looked around the corner, seeing Gladion and Luna continue on. «Maybe he’ll get a friend for once...and a real friend.»

* * *

Gladion and Luna did notice after a while that Hau, Sol and Lillie were out of their sight. They looked around a little, without any luck on finding them. Luna sighed and hung her head, shoulders dropping. Gladion let out a soft sigh, shaking his head.

«Kinda knew they would disappear somewhere...» he muttered.

«Oh? How so?» she asked, looking up at him.

Gladion gained a faint blush on his cheeks, thinking that the reason was because that he were talking to a girl, Lillie had thought it was something completely different than just some general chatting while walking around.

«I don’t know...Lillie probably found something interesting and dragged the others with her.» he replied quickly, not looking at her.

Luna hummed softly and nodded. «If you say so.» she flatly replied, looking around Hau’oli a little, at least the part they were walking in.

Walking around some more, they figured out that they would take place at a nearby cafè, waiting until the others were around again. While taking a seat, Gladion decided to get something to drink, and asked if she wanted anything, which she declined, saying that she were fine. He nodded and went inside, going to order something. While Luna were sitting outside, she got her phone up and decided to check a few things and some news, as well as giving her father a quick message, despite not getting any reply whenever she did. As she kept her attention on her phone, the girl group from earlier were nearby, and spotted her sitting alone. They stopped and started to chatter among themselves in a hushed voice, seemingly planning to give her some more attention, as one of them put it. They were all giggling lightly, starting to walk over to her. They didn’t get far before they all stopped, looking in her direction with big eyes. Gladion just walked out, with a tray on his hands, sitting down in front of her and placed it onto the table. Luna looked surprised as he placed a plate with some food and a Pinap shake in front of her.

«But...I said i didn’t need anything...» she muttered, looking at him with a surprised expression on her.

«Yeah, i know.» he said and took a sip of his drink. «Your welcome.» he said dryly to her.

Luna looked baffled at it, as it had been a while someone had been genuinely nice and gotten her something, despite her declining. «Thank you.» she said softly, with a sweet smile.

Gladion had a hard time keeping a straight face when she smiled, already knowing that it was a rare sight to see a genuine smile from her. Feeling the heat slowly go up his neck to his face, swallowing thickly as he looked away in a hurry. He muttered “ _ your welcome” _ again, taking another sip of his drink. Luna took up the food, which was a bagel filled with cream, taking a bite. It was a plain bagel with regular cream, and she liked it, gaining a faint blush on her cheeks as she lightly chewed on it. The girl group were still looking in surprise, both that she were accompanied by someone they found good looking, that he were nice to her, and that she gave him a sweet smile. They started to walk again, but slowed down the pace as they passed the two. As quickly they passed, they started to chatter again.

«She smiled at him...She actually smiled!» one of them said in a hushed voice.

Another one nodded, equally as surprised. «I know! And she smiled at him!» They kept chattering about it among themselves, but the subject quickly changed from her to Gladion, talking about him instead.

Gladion noticed that she let her guard down slightly, because she did seem more relaxed, which made him more relaxed as well, but kept the blush across his face while eating and having some idle talk with her. He didn’t bring up the carved word on her arm, thinking that she would probably tell him later at some point, or just keep it to herself, seeming like she’s the person to do so, much like himself.

* * *

The idle talk between them ended up being pleasant, Gladion finding himself enjoying the company of someone for once. They had a few laughs, sharing a few dumb things they did years back, and a few personal things, getting to know each other a little more, without oversharing anything to personal. Luna did briefly mention that her mother did hate her, which stuck a little too close to home for him. He knew that Lusamine didn’t hate him, nor Lillie, but the way she acted towards him, it definitely did seem and feel like it at times. She shrugged, and changed the subject, not wanting to get more into details about her and her mother’s relationship. Luna and Gladion kept sitting around for a while, at least until they finished their refreshments. She thanked him for it again, which he said was fine and that he would most likely feel bad if he sat there, eating and drinking something while she were watching.

She smiled softly at him as they got up from the chairs. «You didn’t have to get me anything, but i appreciate it. Thank you.»

«Your welcome.» he replied back, having a gentle smile on his face.

Leaving the cafè, wandering around a little more in Hau’oli, they decided to head home, since they didn’t find the three others, they didn’t bother walk around more to look for them. Getting out of the city, and passing Hau’oli beach, they could hear the seagulls shriek above them, she stopped, looking out at the horizon. Gladion stopped a few feet in front of her, looking back at her.

«Something off?» he asked.

She looked over at him, the light breeze gently moving her hair, and the orange sky making her grey eyes look slightly hazel. She shaked her head. «No, everything is fine.» she replied, giving him a sheepish smile.

«You sure…?» he asked lightly as she walked up to his side.

She nodded. «I’m sure. Sorry for just stopping like that.»

«If you say so.» he replied, giving off a light shrug.

She apologized again as they started walking, and Luna brought up the game earlier, mentioning that Lillie had said something along the lines that he didn’t want to play, and were forced to do so. He shaked his head at what he heard, the irritation and embarrassment creeping up the back of his neck.

«I’m not saying that your sister is lying, but i’d rather ask the real source.» she said, putting her hands in the pockets of her jacket.

«Well...Yeah, i was forced to get into it, and i have no plans on pursuing a scholar for it.» he said, followed by a soft sigh while shaking his head slightly. «It’s not as boring as it might be sometimes...» he added.

«It did seem like you had fun, from what i could see at the game.»

«The games tends to be fun...it’s the practice that is the dull and boring thing.» he said, looking up in front of himself, hating to admit that he did, at times, find it fun. «What about you then?» he then asked, turning the subject onto her.

«Huh? What?» she exclaimed in surprise.

«What do you find fun?»

«Oh...uh...» she muttered, looking down at the ground. «Well...I used to like music...»

«Used to?»

She nodded, hesitating a little. «Yeah...I used to sing back in Kanto and play some instruments, but quit rather quickly.» she said, letting out a soft sigh.

He were about to ask something about it, but got interrupted by her phone ringing in her pocket. She sighed again and took it up, taking the call, answering it in Kantonese. Her relaxed energy got pretty tense as quickly she took the call, her replies being soft and short, as well as her expression dropped. He could hear it was a female on the other end, and guessed it was her mother calling for her, and she wasn’t happy, mentioning something about Sol. Luna kept the replied short, nodding occasionally and humming softly in a few responses, making him quite curious as of what was being said. She eventually hung up, putting the phone back into her pocket.

«Your mother i guess?»

She hummed softly and nodded. «Yeah...She’s quite...mad...Sol’s already at home even...» she muttered, looking down at the ground. «I need to get home rather quickly...» she added.

«Sorry for keeping you out for that long.» he replied, feeling it sting a little in his chest.

«Don’t be sorry.» she said as she looked up at him, giving him a sweet smile. «It’s been pleasant.» Gladion just nodded, getting a soft smile across his lips as well.

«It shouldn’t take to long for you to get home from here.» he said, and pointed in front of them.

They got over to Route 1, and the path up to Iki Town were in front of them, which meant she would be at home in around 2 minutes, the path not being that long. Getting over to the path, they said their goodbyes and went each of their own ways, heading home. Luna were getting anxious on her way home, already knowing that she would get scolded for being out for  _ to long _ , and that Sol were already home. The more she thought about it, the more irritated she got on Sol, knowing that he’s never done anything wrong in their mother’s eyes and gets a free pass whenever he needs one, while she don’t have that privilege and most likely would never get it. Gladion were feeling rather warm, not sure why he were feeling that way, it being completely new to him. He couldn’t blame the Alolan weather, since he were already very much used to it, having lived in this region the whole life. He didn’t notice it himself, but he kept looking over his shoulder, in the direction that the house were Luna would be living in, gaining a soft smile across his lips.


	8. Guests

A few weeks had passed since the day the volleyball game, Luna meeting old acquaintances and getting a rather nasty word carved into her arm. Her arm didn’t hurt anymore, but she were still pretty sensitive, lightly flinching if anyone grabbed her or lightly touched her on the carved in word on her arm. Sitting in the classroom, Sol had gotten a text message from their mother, saying that she would be leaving for Unova for a while, as her job required her to travel to the region and stay there for a while. Sol let Luna know by sending the message to her, which she just quickly looked at it and put the phone down again in her pocket, continuing to listen to what the teacher was saying. She couldn’t care less about her mother at this point, mostly because she hit her the day prior, for being out to late and not getting home right after she had given her a call. Luna had tried to explain to her mother that it took more than a second to get back home from the outskirts of Hau’oli, which their mother didn’t buy, ending up giving her a firm slap across her face. Sitting in the classroom, she had quite the bruise on her face, but couldn’t skip the class because of a test that happened that morning. There had been a lot of chatter around the school about it, but no one asked. Sol had seen it happen, but didn’t say anything about it either, not wanting to make her even more uncomfortable than what she already looked like.

The teacher were talking, writing different things from the textbook onto the whiteboard, which the people in the class noted down, but were occasionally looking over their shoulders to look over at Luna, making sure that she actually had a bruise on her face and that it wasn’t makeup. As the class ended everyone packed up and got ready to leave for the next one, but took their time, giving Luna stares. Sol and Luna packed up rather quickly, getting out of the classroom as he wanted to have a few words with his sister, which was something he did tell Lillie and Hau, making them leave them be for that.

«Lu?» he muttered softly at her. She just hummed softly closing her bag as they walked down the hallway. «Are you sure you are okay…?»

She sighed softly. «I’m fine. Why are you asking...again?»

«I’m asking because you don’t look ‘ok’.» he replied to her, looking down at the flooring a little while walking. «I’m sorry i didn’t stop mom from hitting you...» he added.

«That’s not your fault..So don’t blame yourself for that.» she said, looking over at him.

«I do feel fucking guilty though...i was in the room when she did it.» he muttered softly, looking at her with a worried expression.

She patted him on his shoulder. «It’s fine...It’s not the first time she have done it...» she said.

Sol just stopped in his tracks, looking at her with even bigger eyes. «What…?»

Luna stopped and looked back at him. «You didn’t know, nor did you see it...But mom have done it for years.» she replied. Sol couldn’t believe what she said, scratching the back of his head. Luna walked down to him, poking him between his eyes. «Don’t think to much about it.» she said softly, giving him a sweet smile.

«You are to relaxed about this...» he muttered, frowning. She removed her finger from his forehead and rolled up the sleeve on her left arm, revealing the many scars, and even a few new ones from a few days prior. Sol watcher the sleeve get rolled up, revealing the many scars on her arm. He swallowed thickly, tracing some of them while looking directly into her eyes. «Lu...» he lightly whined. «You are scarred for...» he started, but stopped.

«Scarred for life? Yeah...» she replied.

«I’m sorry, Lu...If i just...had noticed earlier...» he muttered.

Luna reassured him that there wasn’t really anything he could do about it. «For how long will mother be gone?» she asked, pulling the sleeve down over her arm again and trying to change the subject.

«She didn’t say...for a while i guess.» he replied, watching her pull the sleeve down over her arm again. «Please don’t do that when she’s gone...can you promise me that?»

«No promises...but i’ll give it a try.» she said lightly.

«I guess that’s all i can expect...» he replied.

Luna gave a half hearted chuckle, shaking her head slightly. Looking up at Sol again, he just sighed, but got surprised when she got up to him and gave him a tight hug. Sol just hugged her back, muttering that he wouldn’t know what to do if she were gone. She giggled softly.

«We share the same DNA, so i guess i’m hard to get rid off.»

«Oh, you better be, because i know for sure that i am.» he said, chuckling.

* * *

After the last class, Sol and Luna planned what they would have for dinner, knowing that she would make it anyway, as he had no clue what to do in the kitchen. They eventually figured what she would make, but ordered him to get the groceries after they got home, as they probably would need something for it. Sol didn’t complain and nodded as they were on their way out of the building. They had been talking Kantonese between themselves, which made Lillie, Hau and Gladion curious of what they were saying. Lillie eventually got up to Sol, asking what they were talking about.

«Oh, just planning dinner.» he replied. «You didn’t hear that?» he said.

Lillie just shaked her head. «You were talking in Kantonese, you genius.» Gladion replied to him.

«Oh. Old habits die hard...» he said, shrugging and smiling sheepishly.

Lillie giggled softly while Gladion just rolled his eyes and shaked his head. Hau were grinning and chuckling. Lillie then asked what they had figured out, only for Sol to say that they needed to check what they had first, and get the necessary ingredients if needed any. Sol then suggested they all just came over, saying that it’s more fun when there are more people around. And that the food usually would taste better with company of friends. Luna just looked at him with big eyes, telling him that she had no plans on making a feast.

«It’s not going to be a feast, Lu. Calm down. I’m sure they’ll want to taste your cooking as well.» he said, nodding at them.

Lillie hummed softly and nodded, the same did Hau. Gladion didn’t say anything, just keeping himself silent until Lillie got over to him and elbowed him, to which he just sighed and nodded at. Luna then sighed and hung her head, to which Sol just wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to him and told her that it would be fine. On their way home, they parted ways and went to each of their own. Lillie were excited and couldn’t wait, having been invited over to their place for the first time. Gladion were excited, but he didn’t show it. He had started to crush on her, but haven’t acknowledged it yet, just knowing of the feeling of being slightly nervous and feeling that it was a little awkward being around her. He did mask it pretty well but he knew that just a look from her could most likely ruin the facade he kept up of looking normal and unfaced by everything. Getting over to Route 1, they parted ways and got home to each of their own first. Sol and Luna got changed into something more comfortable, going out to the kitchen and checking the fridge and the freezer for whatever there was. They didn’t find much, but decided on something simple. Agreeing on what she would be making, Sol left for the grocery store, picking out whatever that she needed to make it with. While he were gone, Luna wandered around the place a little, properly looking around now that their mother were gone for a few days, maybe weeks. She sighed and decided to lock the room to their mother, not wanting anything to do with the room. After she did that, she found the vacuum, starting to clean up the floors, not wanting Lillie, Hau and Gladion to think they were living in filth or anything of the sorts, despite her having washed the floors yesterday. While he were at the store, she managed to dust the entire living room and kitchen, since that’s were they most likely would be hanging out before and after dinner.

* * *

As the evening got around, Lillie, Hau and Gladion arrived, and Sol got them into the living room, sitting down and just chatting. Gladion kept himself silent and listening on what the other three were saying. Looking around a little, he did notice that Luna were nowhere to be seen, and got curious as of why she wasn’t around. As the curiosity grew, Lillie asked were she was and Sol replied that she were in the kitchen, making the dinner as he had no idea what he would be doing.

«I’ll most likely just be in the way...So i’ll let her do all the magic.» he said, followed by a sheepish chuckle.

«Oh? What’s she making?» Lillie then asked.

Sol shrugged. «I don’t know...something with fish as far as i know.»

Gladion just shaked his head and rolled his eyes. He did invite them all over, yet he had no idea what was being made. After listening to them for a few more minutes, Hau suggested they played a board game, as he had noticed a few of them on the shelf beside the sitting area. Lillie agreed and Sol got up, finding one that they all agreed on. Gladion declined getting involved in the game, saying that he’ll just watch and make sure that both Sol and Hau didn’t cheat. Sol and Hau chuckled and nodded, while Lillie gave her brother a light pout., telling him to be nice. Gladion just shrugged and didn’t say much more than that, watching them get the game up and go through the rules real quick. Watching them play for a while, he got up from the seat he was sitting in, starting to wander around the living room, looking around. There was a few pictures on the wall and the shelves around the room, most of them involving Sol and their mother, and just a handful of them with Sol and Luna, other than that, there was nothing with her alone or with their mother. The three didn’t notice that he were wandering around the room, and found himself wandering down the hallway, continuing to look at the photos, trying to spot any of her. Stopping as he didn’t see any, he heard a few muffled sounds coming from the room to the side, as well as some soft humming. He leaned over, looking into the kitchen and seeing Luna full at work with the dinner, humming softly on some random melody. He leaned onto the doorframe, not helping himself but to look her down, watching her diligently work on the food that they were invited over for.

«Why are you standing there?» she said all of a sudden, not bothering to turn around to look at him.

He flinched and looked around the kitchen, gaining a deep red color on his cheeks. «Uuh...I was just...Looking around...» he muttered out. «How did you even notice me?»

Luna just pointed at the reflection of the glass cupboard over her, tapping the glass lightly. «Reflection.» she flatly replied, looking over her shoulder at him while having a soft smile across her lips.

He looked at the cupboard, seeing his own reflection in the glass and sighed softly. «Right...»

She turned to the stove, watching the pot and making sure that it was boiling. She chuckled softly. «Sol being annoying?» she asked.

«No offence...but more or less.» he replied, walking into the kitchen and over to the counter, standing on the opposite side with his arms crossed.

«No offence taken. I have been living with him most of my life anyway, so i know how it is...What are the others doing?»

«Hau found a few board games, and suggested they were playing one...so yeah...Board games.» he replied, letting out a light sigh as he looked around the kitchen.

Luna let out a soft giggle. «Alright. At least he’ll be somewhat quiet now.» she said, turning the heat down on the stove a little. She turned around, taking a towel that was hanging nearby and wiped her hands in it a little, looking over at him, who were looking around the room. She looked at his profile a little before looking away quickly, a faint blush appearing, which she shook off quickly.

«Need help with anything?» he asked, looking over at her again.

She hummed softly. «Well...I just need to put plates and stuff on the table...»

Gladion gestured her to hand him the plates. «I’ll do that.»

«Gladion...You, Lillie and Hau are guests, you shouldn’t be doing anything..» she muttered.

«Which is why i’m going to do it. Plates and cutlery please.» he said, demanding them.

By the little he had watched her, he did notice that she were quite careful by using her right arm, seemingly that the carved word into her skin were still somewhat painful, or rather still very sensitive to movement and touch, as the cuts were quite deep. He did ask her several times later of who gave it to her, but she only replied with ‘acquaintances’ and avoided the subject altogether. She sighed and turned around to the shelves, getting down five plates for them carefully, and put them down onto the counter in front of him. He took the plates and got over to the dining table, placing them around as she found cutlery for everyone. He finished quickly, getting the cutlery and glasses out for everyone before he continued to watch her finish the dish, slightly leaning over the counter. Sol then decided to show up, asking if everything was alright, and if it was done, which she nodded at.

«It’s done.» she said lightly.

«Alright. I’ll tell Hau and Lillie.» he replied and walked off to fetch them.

Luna and Gladion got the food over to the table, placing it around in the middle for everyone to eat as much as they wanted. Gladion got himself seated as Hau, Lillie and Sol got into the room, sitting down as well. Lillie were looking at it with big eyes, being incredibly impressed. Luna got herself seated after she filled up a water mug, placing it on the table as well. Sol and Luna were using chopsticks, since that’s what they were used to, while Hau, Lillie and Gladion were looking rather impressed, since they made it look so simple, yet they knew it was hard to do, not being used to it. As they ate, they had some idle chatting going on, the three being impressed on how good the food was. Lillie just couldn’t stop telling her the more she ate, as well as Hau kept stuffing himself to Gladion’s disgust. They all finished, and Sol, Lillie and Hau left for the living room again after thanking for the food, planning to continue the game they had put on hold. As they continued the game, Gladion were sitting behind, having a rather pleasant conversation with Luna. While they were talking, he helped her clean up the dishes, putting them back into their place with her guidance before sitting down at the dining table with a deck of cards, starting to play a simple game as the evening continued on.


	9. Soft Voice

The evening came to a halt when Lillie got a call from Lusamine, telling them to get home since they still had classes the next day. Lillie wasn’t too fond of going home, having a great time chatting and playing games. Sol said it was alright, and that it was in the middle of the week. Hau then mentioned that they should do it on a weekend day instead, not having to worry about school the next day. Lillie then looked around, not seeing Luna nor Gladion around and asked where they probably could be. Sol said that they were probably in the kitchen still, chatting.

«Probably still in the kitchen and talking. I’ll go and get Gladion for you.» Sol said and got up from the seat, fixing his shirt a little as he started to head over to the kitchen.

Walking down the hallway, he could hear Gladion and Luna talking. Gladion were sounding rather irritated, and Luna chuckling lightly. Getting to the kitchen, he stopped outside and leaned over to look inside, seeing that they were playing a card game, and Luna were winning, considering that Gladion were sounding and looking quite irritated and annoyed. He stood there, watching until Gladion put down his cards in frustration, shaking his head while groaning slightly. Luna then chuckled and revealed her card, which were a winning hand.

«This game is bullshit...» he hissed.

«Sore loser.» she murmured.

Sol shaked his head and walked in, having a smile across his lips. «Having fun?»

«No.» he hissed.

«Very much so.» she replied softly.

Sol laughed softly. «Glad to hear. Anyway...Your mother called Lillie, telling you to get home.» he said.

Gladion sighed and nodded, getting up from the chair. Luna got up from the chair as well, and collected all the cards, putting them into its holder and placed it on the table. Gladion walked out and Sol walked with him, Luna following shortly after. Once Lillie saw her brother walk out into the living room, she got up from the chair she was sitting in, smiling sweetly at him.

«Mom called...» she muttered softly.

«Sol said so.» he replied flatly.

Hau got up from his seat as well, adding in that he might as well just leave. Sol pouted slightly, but nodded. Gladion got his shoes on and opened the door, letting in the chilly Alolan night breeze. Lillie hurried to get her shoes on as Gladion walked out onto the porch, putting his hands in the pockets of his pants and waited for her to tag along. Hau got his shoes on and walked out with Gladion, watching Lillie starting to get stressed. She thanked for the food and the evening, mentioning it that they should do it again sometime soon. As she said that, Hau nodded and Gladion shaked his head, rolling his eyes, still being quite the sore loser after several loss against Luna. They exchanged a few words before they all left, thanking for the fun evening again as they got down the stairs. Gladion took a quick look over his shoulder at Luna, who were having a soft smile across her lips while saying goodbye to Lillie, giving her a small wave. The sight made his cheeks heat up, quickly looking away from her as the blush got more visible on him. The twins watched them leave and as soon they were out of their sight, they closed and locked the door. Luna got into the kitchen again, starting on the dishes that couldn’t be put into the dishwasher. Sol joined to help out, making the task go by faster, so they both could go to bed. He even asked why they were sitting in the kitchen, playing a card game.

«I was suppose to get these dishes done, but he didn’t leave the room. So i just found a deck of cards, and that’s that.» she replied.

«Is that so? He didn’t sound to happy though...» he muttered, drying one of the plates she handed to him.

«Sore loser.» she replied, followed by a soft chuckle. «You are even worse though.» she added.

«Hah! I’m definitely not!» he hissed at her, placing the dried up plate on the counter behind them. Luna chuckled softly, shaking her head at him.

Going back and forth on how much of a sore loser he was, they finished the dished, and put them back into the drawers and shelves. As they finished, Sol left for his room and quickly got to bed. Luna walked around the place, making sure the doors and windows were locked, as well as turning the lights off before she got into her room, getting ready for bed. While she were in her PJs, she sat in the bed, looking out of the window and up at the night sky, watching the stars a little before she laid down and got comfortable.

* * *

The next morning went as usual. The twins got ready and left, meeting up with Lillie and Hau. Sol noticed that Gladion were nowhere to be seen and asked where he was, which Lillie said that he were at home, going to help out at the Aether office with a few things. Sol and Luna looked at her with big eyes, as they had no idea that they were  _ those _ Aether people. Hau laughed at the mixture of surprise and shock on their faces, and Lillie giggled softly, apologizing for not telling them earlier. She told them that Wicke, a family friend and an employee within the company needed some help with a few things. Sol and Luna nodded, listening carefully. Hau added that he were most likely to take over at some point, despite him not wanting to.

«He’s always said that...» Lillie muttered.

«I’m sure he’ll change his mind sometime.» Hau replied, grinning widely.

«True. He still have a year left of school, and them probably some education…? I don’t know what he wants to do...» she replied, nodding slightly, followed by a soft sigh.

Luna and Sol just exchanged glanced, not sure what to take of the situation as the two kept on talking about it. They didn’t know them that well, other than their names and their classes for the time being, and that they were  _ the _ Aether folks. They didn’t say much other than to reply whenever a question were thrown their way on their way to school. Sol and Luna were still quite surprised, not sure how to process the new information. Gladion had been up quite early and got over to the main office, since he were asked by Wicke to meet her there. He wasn’t too happy to lose an extra hour of sleep and were quite groggy and grumpy on his way over. As quickly he got there, Wicke was already standing in the entrance area, waiting for him. She greeted him sweetly and asked him to follow her, which he did without question. While walking, she told him that there was a little paperwork, other than that, there wasn’t really anything, which made him irritated, asking why Lusamine haven’t done them.

Wicke sighed softly. «Miss Lusamine is your mother. Why don’t you address her as such?» she asked, her voice sounding slightly concerned.

«It’s because that she’s my mother that i do call her by her name.» he replied. «Especially around here...» he added lightly after hearing quite the sad sigh coming from her.

She smiled sweetly at him and nodded. «Of course, young master.» she replied, sounding like her usual cheerful self.

Walking down the hallway, they stopped and walked into a conference room. Gladion were a little surprised, as he had gotten used to go straight to the office. Wicke then explained that the ‘paperwork’ were emails, and a few documents that needed to get rewritten into the system. Gladion sighed and nodded, walking over to the computer in the front, leaning over and turned the monitor on. Wicke gave him the few papers, giving him a sweet smile.

«I’m happy that you have found a friend, young master.» she said all of a sudden, which made him look over at her with big eyes.

«What?» he muttered, not really sure what he heard in the first place.

«Oh? Miss Lillie said you have gotten yourself a friend. Was that a lie?» she asked, looking at him in surprise.

Knowing that the woman have been quite worried about him throughout the years, he didn’t want to make her even more worried. «Oh...Yeah...I guess..» he replied.

«That’s wonderful! I’m happy for you. It’s about time even.» she said, giving him a playful wink.

Gladion knew Lillie had said something, and assumed it was about Luna, which made him get a little red across his cheeks. Lillie had been talking about both Luna and Sol, but meant Sol, considering that Gladion wasn’t that good with girls. Or so she thought at least, not knowing that Luna were the one he had gotten the most connection with. Wicke noticed the faint red color on his cheeks, and just smiled softly. She then muttered softly that she had to get back to her assignments, and told him that he could leave her a text message when he was done, and were free to leave when he was. He nodded and sat down on the chair, getting the computer up and running properly before he opened a word document, getting ready to rewrite the documents before checking the emails. Wicke excused herself and then left, closing the door behind her. As she left and were quite the distance away from the conference room, he found his phone and earplugs, putting on some music as to kill some time and not to get disturbed by other sounds around him.

«This will take all day...I’m sure of it...» he muttered to himself as he put the music on and started to rewrite one of the documents.

* * *

As the day passed and the classes ended, they started to head back home. Luna went straight home while Sol went up with Hau, not being around Iki Town as of yet. Lillie went straight home as well, as she wanted to get her homework done first before she would be heading to Burnet’s place, dive into her research and possibly help out if she could. Gladion were feeling quite done with the work, but had finally finished at Aether, getting out of the building and starting to head home himself. Getting out of the office and starting to head to the docks, he got onto a ferry and headed home at Melemele. As he got off at the marine, he noticed Sol and Hau in the distance, and decided to stay away from the two, not wanting to have anything to do with them for the time being. Avoiding them to the fullest, taking a different route on his way home, he passed Hau’oli beach, letting out a light sigh. Continuing to walk home, he got over to Route 1 and noticed that the front door to Luna and Sol’s place were open, and Luna standing outside hanging up some laundry. He slowed down, watching her as he walked closer. She didn’t notice him and kept on with the task, keeping herself focused. As he got closer, and were passing her, he heard that she were lightly singing to herself. It stunned him that she didn’t do more with it, finding the little he heard quite pretty, but could recall Sol telling Lillie, who told him again, that she dropped it when they were still living in Kanto. She didn’t notice him when he passed, and he couldn’t get over on how pretty her voice sounded from the little he heard. As he passed, he picked up the speed again, getting home in a matter of minutes and getting Null, taking the dog out for a walk, knowing that Lillie hadn’t done it, as well as Lusamine were still around at the office. Taking the leash, he called for the canine and got out again, taking the regular route to the beach, letting the dog run around on its own while being there. Walking at the shore, watching the canine run around happily and occasionally get into the water, his mind were still on her. Luna looked more alive than she used to. At least more than what he were used to from school and from what Lillie would tell him, being a little worried for her. He got lost in thought, but got snapped out of it when Null gave a bark at him, getting his attention as it was holding a stick in its mouth, wanting him to throw it. Gladion took the stick and chuckled lightly, throwing it out in front of him. Null ran towards it in an instant, giving off a few soft content and pleased barks, which made him shake his head and chuckle more at the canine.

While being out, he got a message from Lillie, who said that she were planning to ask Luna over to their home sometime, having a sleepover with her, if she wanted to and asked him if that was alright.

_ I don’t care what you do. Just don’t drag me into anything… -  _ **_Gladion_ **

_ Alright! I just wanted to make sure you are okay with it, since i know mom will ask me that question anyway. - _ **_Lillie_ **

Gladion just shaked his head at the message, as he shouldn’t really have a say in what their mother allowed her to do.

_ Why don’t you ask Sol and Hau to join? It’s more fun if there are more people around. - _ **_Lillie_ **

_ I barely know them...And they are your classmates...not mine. -  _ **_Gladion_ **

_ I know...? It was just a suggestion though. Thinking that you might be feeling lonely or something. -  _ **_Lillie_ **

_ I’ll be fine. -  _ **_Gladion_ **

He sighed softly, watching Null run back to him with the stick, dropping it in front of him and taking a few steps back, exchanging looks between him and the stick, wanting him to throw it all over again. Gladion picked it up and threw it. The dog sprinted off again, being as happy as it could be. Gladion started to over analyze the situation of Luna being in their home for a night, scripting whatever he would be saying if she ever asked anything while being there, which made a light smile appear on his lips, as well his face started to heat up slightly by the thought of her, remembering the light, soft voice she had when he heard her earlier. He definitely wanted to ask something about that when she came over, and if he remembered it.


	10. Relaxed

He didn’t wander around for to long at the beach, tossing the stick for Null to get it back in a second. As the canine laid down by the shore in the distance, Gladion slowly approached it, getting the leash ready for putting it on. He could hear Hau and Sol in the distance, laugh and chat loudly, having a great time. He could also see the ferry arriving at Hau’oli Marine from one of the other islands, most likely carrying residents or tourists. With a soft sigh, he stopped in front of Null, looking down at the dog chewing on the stick, looking content. He squatted down, placing his hand on its head and lightly ran it over its head, petting it. The canine didn’t mind and kept on chewing on the stick, minding its own business. After giving it a few pets, he put the leash on, which got the attention of the dog, getting up on its feet, still holding the stick. Getting back up on his feet, he kept standing there a little, watching the ferry in the distance a little before moving his attention to Route 1, looking over at Sol and Luna’s place, wondering what she would be doing while being alone, now that Sol were still around Hau, and Lillie were most likely at home. Already knowing that she were doing self harm started to worry him, thinking that he would pay her a quick visit to make sure that she wasn’t  _ busy _ . Walking down the beach a little more, he started to head up to the road, a little away from their home, not wanting to look like he were there specifically to pay her a visit. 

Getting up to the road, Null started to get excited, since it was rare to take a detour, being very used to the normal walk on the beach, with a few runs into the water and retrieving the stick for Gladion to throw it again. Its tail were wagging lightly, sniffing and looking around at the rare surroundings. Starting on Route 1, approaching the house, Gladion gradually got nervous, starting to  second guess himself if he should check up on her, or just forget about it. He became so lost in thought that he didn’t notice that he stopped in front of their home. He looked over, not sure how he ended up in front of it. Looking around a little more, he noticed that Luna were sitting outside, looking down onto her phone. Null just then decided to bark as it noticed a critter in the bushes in the distance, making both of them flinch. Luna almost dropped her phone and looked to her side in a hurry, seeing Gladion standing there, scolding the canine.

«Gladion?» she lightly called after him.

He looked up towards her in a hurry. «Uh...Hi…?» he muttered. Null then gave a bark again, keeping its attention in front of itself. «Hush on you…!» Gladion hissed to the canine, it looking up at him while wagging its tail. «Sorry about that...» he muttered, looking over at Luna again.

She had gotten up from the chair and were now leaning over the railings, giggling softly at him, which made his cheeks get rosy. «That’s alright.» she said, moving some of her hair behind her ears. The canine had walked up to the railings and got up on two legs, panting heavily and giving off soft whines. Luna squatted down and reached for it between the railings, scratching its head lightly. «Nice walk?» she asked.

«It was alright. Nothing to fancy.» he replied. Looking at Null, being content and wagging its tail vigorously while Luna were giving it light scratches.

She softly talked to the animal, which seemed to make it even happier its tail going from side to side with each word she said. Gladion were feeling slightly relieved, knowing that she wasn’t cutting herself up. Him being worried about someone caught him slightly off guard, which was something that made him weirded out by himself. Caring about someone else other than his sister were new, but from looking at her and seeing that she were doing fine felt rather nice, making him feel at ease. Null kept standing there, looking back at Gladion a little, looking extremely content with its tongue hanging out. Gladion just sighed softly and shaked his head at the sight, which Luna noticed and giggled softly. She gave it a few more pets before stopping, getting up on her feet again and crossed her arms. The canine got down on its feet and turned around, looking at Gladion while giving off soft whines at him. Gladion and Luna had a few words before Null got to impatient, getting louder with each second that were passing.

Luna were giggling softly. «Seems like Null is impatient.» she said lightly.

«Yeah...I better get going anyway...» he replied. Luna hummed softly and nodded. «Later.» he said and started to walk off, the canine looking back at Luna before following after him. Luna just waved lightly as they walked off, her getting back to whatever she were doing.

* * *

After a while, Gladion were back home and met up with Lillie in the kitchen, looking for something to eat. She stopped looking through the fridge and looked over her shoulder, seeing Gladion walking in and Null tagging along. She asked if the walk was nice and he replied that it was as he walked up to her, reaching in for some leftovers to heat up and eat, not wanting to make something and not feeling up to make anything. Lillie just frowned when he took it, finding it lazy of him. Lillie decided to make a sandwich, just to prove to him that food made from the ground and up are better than leftovers. Gladion put the plate with the leftover into the microwave, he gave Lillie a quick glance, seeing her disapproving glare.

«What?»

«Lazy...» she hissed and put together the sandwich.

«Whatever...» he sighed and put the microwave on, waiting for it to reheat up the food.

Lillie finished making her food and put the ingredients back into the fridge, taking the item with her into the living room, deciding to sit there and eat. Null noticed and followed after her, giving her big puppy eyes, as she sat down, giving the canine a quick look. She ignored it, knowing that Gladion would get mad if she gave it something else than its regular food. After a few whines, the animal left, noticing that it wouldn’t get anything and headed back into the kitchen deciding to sit beside Gladion and try to beg for something from him. Gladion had placed himself in the kitchen, sitting at the dining table there as Null walked in, sitting down beside him and giving him the massive puppy eyes. Gladion gave the dog a quick look, but kept on eating, ignoring it as usual. Null then gave a soft bark at him, making him sigh softly.

«You already get enough food. Extras even from mother and Lillie...» he said in a hushed voice, leaning over to look into the kitchen, seeing Lillie sitting there, skipping through a few channels. Null whined softly a few more times before giving up, laying down and letting out a sigh of its own.

Gladion finished eating, putting the plate into the dishwasher and found his way up to his room, getting some studying done since he had been absent from classes the entire day, feeling like he should catch up one way or another. Null followed after him up, placing itself in its bed as Gladion sat down at his desk, finding a textbook and starting to read and take notes. Lillie finished her sandwich and decided to plan out how to ask Luna if she wanted to join her for a sleepover, since she found her rather scary looking, but didn’t want to judge to hard before trying to get to properly knowing her. She got from the couch and took the plate with her, heading out to the kitchen and put it into the dishwasher. She stood around the kitchen a little, thinking of how she would be asking her, going though the many options as she started to head up to her own room, she narrowed it down to either give her a text, or just ask her when they were at school.

«Texting seems like the safest option...» she muttered to herself while walking up the stairs.

* * *

Luna were still sitting outside, but instead of sitting on her phone, she had found one of her books and started to read it. Sol had arrived back home a few minutes ago, and were taking a quick shower before planning to join her outside. Getting out and into some loose clothes, he walked out to her with a towel on his head, drying his hair up as he sat down beside her.

«So...How’s your day been?» he asked. His voice muffled by the towel over his head.

«Calm and rather uneventful.» she replied, not looking away from the page she was on. «You then? I could hear you and Hau have fun at least.»

«He showed me around Iki town, and the way up to the ruins up the hill.» he said and pointed in that direction. «Apparently there is some deity living around there named Tapu Koko.»

«Tapu Koko…?» she muttered, turning the page and looked over at him, not sure what he was talking about.

«Yeah. I guess it’s something like Moltres, Zapdos and Articuno back in Kanto. Some deity stuff.» he replied shrugging, letting the towel fall down onto his shoulders as he sat back, leaning against the wall. «It’s quite the cool place. You should tag along sometime and look for yourself. It’s nothing like the shrines we have in Kanto and Johto.»

Luna were about to say something, but got interrupted by her phone. She put a bookmark into the book and closed it, reaching for her phone to see what were going on. It was a message from Lillie, making her smile softly when she opened it and read through it.

«Oooh.~ A message from your boyfriend?» he said in a teasing tone, pursing his lips at her.

Luna just looked in front of her with a blank expression. For once, she decided to play along, but change it up a little. «In fact...» she started softly. «...It’s from my girlfriend!» she added quickly, looking at her brother with an overly excited expression.

«W-what…!?» he stuttered as she took him off guard, not expecting  something like that from her.

«Idiot...» she then said, shaking her head and replied to the message.

Sol were looking at her in confusion, blinking a few times. «Y-you...were joking...right?»

«Was i that convincing?» she replied, giving off a soft chuckle. Sol didn’t say anything, still looking confused. «Are you serious?» she then asked, looking unimpressed at him.

Sol just shrugged and gave her a half hearted smile. Luna just groaned, shaking her head while muttering an insult to him in Kantonese. Sol just muttered something back at her before he asked what it was about and who it was from. Luna replied that it was from Lillie, and that she asked her if she wanted a sleepover at her place the coming weekend.

«And you said…?»

«I accepted the invitation. What else could i do?» she said, looking at him as he shifted his position.

«Oh you know...You could have snarled a  _ No _ and let it be with that.» he replied, shrugging at her.

She shaked her head again. «Can’t do that...Lillie is nothing but sweet, and i don’t want to be rude...or come off as rude...» she muttered.

«Don’t worry about the rude part, since most of the class is already pretty scared to approach you.» he said.

Luna just looked at him with a surprised expression. She quickly turned to look down at the phone screen again, feeling terrible that the entire class was seeing her that way. «Oh...»

«Don’t worry to much about it. I know that you ain’t as horrible as you portray.» he said. Luna hummed softly and a soft smile appeared. «...You are way worse...» he added, smirking as a chuckle followed. Luna gave him a play punch, finding it hard to conceal the smile that were growing on her.

«Idiot...» she muttered between the soft giggles she tried so hard to conceal.

Sol grinned widely, chuckling as he got up on his feet and started to walk inside again. He stopped in the door and asked if she wanted anything to drink, which she nodded at. Sol then walked in, walking into the laundry room first to put the towel into the dirty basket before getting over to the fridge in the kitchen, getting a can of soda for them both. He then got out to her again and sat down beside her, handing one to her. They both sat there for a while, just enjoying the silence and looking out at the landscape in front of them, just enjoying the soft sea breeze, the warm Alolan weather and each others company. Luna felt quite relieved and relaxed when their mother wasn’t around, and did hope that she would be away as much as possible. As they were joking around, sipping on the soda and eventually getting something to eat, Sol could tell that she were relaxed, feeling relieved seeing his twin feeling more at ease and  _ at home _ for the first time in years.


	11. Grey Eyes

As the week passed, Lillie were excited that Luna would be sleeping over at her place, and had planned down what they would be doing. On the way back from school, they stopped by their place, letting Luna get her stuff before tagging along with Lillie back to the Aether residence. Lillie had mentioned that some other girls from the other class would be joining them. Luna didn’t really mind, thinking that she wouldn’t be talking most of the time, just listening and reply whenever she were asked something. Lillie did also mention that her other friends would be joining them later that evening, since they had things to do at home first, helping their family with different things. While being at Sol and Luna’s place, Gladion were also there, waiting with Lillie and Sol keeping them company, casually chatting. Gladion kept himself silent while Lillie and Sol were talking, exchanging a few opinions on the different subjects they had that day. Luna were in her room, packing a few necessities into a bag and making sure that she didn’t miss anything. If she did, it wouldn’t be to much of a problem either, since she could just walk back home to get it, or just wait until the next day. Knowing that she would be sleeping there, she packed her oversized hoodie, not wanting to show the scars on her arms, despite Gladion and Sol now knowing of them, which was enough for her. She didn’t want to burden Lillie with her bad habit. She finished packing, got changed into something more casual and comfortable and took her phone, putting it into her pocket as she took the bag, leaving her room and walked out to the living room, finding the others there. 

Sol turned and waved at her. «And there she is! The o’mighty hime-sama!» Gladion and Lillie just looked at each other in confusion.

Luna narrowed her eyes at him, lightly scoffing. «Says who?» she replied. «Knowing that you’ll most likely burn down the place when i’m gone...Hm?» she added, raising an eyebrow at him.

Sol were about to say something, but quickly closed his mouth, knowing that he’s the worst cook. «I’ll get by for a day...» he muttered embarrassed to her.

«Impress me.» she said. Gladion were doing his best to hide a growing smirk, while Lillie were just as confused, exchanging looks between the twins. Luna then looked at Lillie, and gave her a soft smile. «I’m ready.»

Lillie smiled back at her and got up from the seat she was sitting in, almost jumping out of it. «Great! I’m so excited!» she said, walking over to her and clapping her hands lightly. Luna let out a half hearted chuckle.

Sol and Gladion got up from the couch, getting over to the front door and opening it up, letting Gladion and Lillie out while Luna gave Sol a quick briefing of what was in the fridge, that was edible right away. Sol just rolled his eyes, saying that he knows how to reheat food, waving his hand at her. The siblings were standing outside, waiting for Luna, and could hear a little of what was being said between the twins. In the end, Sol ended up pushing her out, saying that he’ll be fine and that she should enjoy herself for once.

«Com’on Lu. I’ll be fine.» he said, giving her a massive, proud grin. «Think about yourself for once.» he added, giving her two thumbs up.

Luna just sighed and nodded slightly. «Right...»

Waving at her for to just leave already, she got shoes on and got down from the front porch, walking with Lillie and Gladion. Sol waited until they were away from his sight to close the door and locking it, starting to get nervous. Sol stood there, looking around the living room, listening to the birds chirping outside, and the overall silence of the place. It was strange, being so used to have her around at all times. He inhaled deeply, clapping his cheeks and telling himself that he’ll be fine. It was only until tomorrow after all. After getting back on track, he sat down in the couch and turned on the TV, starting to skip through channels to see if there was something interesting to watch.

* * *

The evening grew closer and the girls had gotten up to Lillie’s room, got changed into their PJs and were now sitting around in her room, just talking and asking questions. Mallow, Lana and Acerola had arrived an hour earlier, and were quite eager to get to know Luna, which made her quite uncomfortable. She did answer to their questions to the best of her ability, without sounding rude, but kept her replies short. They got a lot of answers from her, and she did get to know them a little more. Lillie had noticed earlier, when they were eating something in the kitchen, before the other three girls arrived. While they were eating, and casually talking, Gladion had gotten back from a walk with Null, and gotten into the kitchen, wanting something to drink and eat. As he were on his way out of the room again, he glanced over at them, and briefly met Luna’s eyes and she noticed that he gained a faint pink color on his cheeks, almost hitting the wall beside the door as he couldn’t look away from her, which she found funny. While talking among each other, Lana suggested the game  _ Truth or Dare _ , which made Luna incredibly uncomfortable right away. As it started and after a few minutes of asking questions, Lana decided to ask Luna if there was someone she fancied in Alola, which made Lillie, Mallow and Acerola perk up, shifting their attention fully onto her.

Luna were cold sweating while sitting there, dragging the sleeves more down over her hands. She and Sol had almost recently moved, and she haven’t really been thinking about it, nor been looking around. «I haven’t really been looking around...» she muttered softly, looking down into her lap.

Lillie smirked, looking rather smug around at the others, which caught their attention when she hummed softly. «I think i already know of one that does fancy you, my dear Luna…~» she said proudly.

The four were looking at her with big eyes, Luna gaining a faint blush on her cheeks, starting to wonder who that would be. «Who is it, Lillie?» Mallow asked excited, leaning over to her with big eyes. Lana and Acerola were leaning over to the blonde, wanting to hear what she would be saying.

Lillie were about to say something, but got interrupted by a bark outside of her bedroom door and Gladion hissing for the dog to get away from the door, and back down to him. They all stared at the door in silence, listening to the dog give off a few barks and trying to get in, which were rather confusing for Lillie, since she knew it was rather skittish around new and strangers. Lillie got up from where she was sitting and walked over to the door, getting frustrated as the dog kept on barking and scratching up the door. She lightly hissed for the canine to stop as she grabbed the door handle and started to open it up, only for the canine to force itself in to her room in a hurry. Lillie tried to keep the door closed, but the animal proved to be stronger. Gladion had hurried up, not sure why it was being so desperate to get inside her room, which never happened. He had gotten a hold of its collar, but as she had opened the door, and the canine forced itself in to her room, Lillie slammed the door in his face by accident. Gladion let out a painful grunt as the door got slammed into his face. Null stood in the room a little, looking around as Lillie opened the door wide, apologizing to her brother while he were holding his hand on his chin, rubbing gently from the impact from the door.

Null shook itself and looked around at the girl, but perked up when it saw Luna, launching at her. Mallow, Lana and Acerola moved away in a hurry, thinking that it was attacking, but as it ran up to her, it tripped on its own legs, face planting in front of the Kantonese girl, giving off a soft grunt as it fell. Luna just looked at the canine, letting out a soft sigh as she moved a little closer to it, leaning over and started to pet its head gently.

«Hello to you too.» she said softly. Null just started to wag its tail, slowly laying on its front ad crawling up to her, placing its head in her lap, murring softly.

Lana, Mallow and Acerola were just looking at the animal, who seemed quite content where it was laying, wagging its tail lightly. Lillie were telling her brother that he should have better control over his dog, to which he just hissed back at her that he can’t predict what the canine would do all the time, and that this time certainly were one of the situations that suddenly happened. As the two blondes looked over at the dog, they were more or less shocked by the sight. Gladion knew that Null liked her, but have never seen it lay down in front of anyone else than him. Lillie had no knowledge about the canine, other that it didn’t like strangers and were quite skittish around new people, but were surprised and shocked that Null were so calm and content around Luna. Mallow, Lana and Acerola were rather uncomfortable, since Null had lashed out at either of them once. After a few minutes of just looking, Lillie nudged him and told him to get the dog out, as it wasn’t invited. Gladion called for it, only to get silence and no reaction, other than one of its ears twitching. He continued to call for it, only to get a few soft barks from it, protesting. In annoyance he got in and grabbed the collar of the canine, and started to drag it with him, only for the animal to get limp, using its weight and not moving, resulting in Gladion tipping forward towards Luna. Gladion managed to regain the balance quickly, meeting Luna’s eyes as he looked up. Looking straight into her grey eyes, they both blushed into a deep red, him quickly moving away and dragging Null with him, lightly hissing. Luna just sat there, looking rather confused while her cheeks were as red as they could get. Once Gladion and the canine were out of Lillie’s room, she sighed and closed the door, going back to her bed and apologized.

As Lillie sat down again, she looked over at Luna, who were looking down at the floor, keeping the sleeves over her hands, and kept tugging them. Lillie just smiled softly, and giggled when she noticed the redness on her cheeks. After the event, she didn’t ask anything more in the  _ Truth or Dare _ game they were playing, but decided to change the subject and started to talk about something else. Gladion hurried over to his room, keeping Null on a leash while he were sitting in there, staring at the animal as it grabbed one of its toys and started to play with it. He didn’t focus on the canine, but kept imagining Luna’s eyes. They were grey, but had a slight shimmer to them, making it look that they were slightly sparkling or had a faint glow. Long eyelashes with a mixture of black and dark brown, which were rather fascinating to him. He swallowed thickly and clapped himself on his cheeks in an attempt to snap himself out of the train of thoughts about her, which proved to be hard, since she were in the same house as him, and it didn’t help when he could hear Lana, Mallow and Acerola at the other end, being quite loud when they were laughing.

He placed his elbows on his knees, placing his hands on his face and lightly rubbed his forehead and cheeks. «God damn it...I don’t know her...» he muttered silently to himself. Looking down at the floor under him, the image of her came back to mind. Her soft laughter, her soft smile, and then her eyes again, making him blush even harder while thinking of her, groaning to himself. «I have been up for to long...I’m just tired...» he told himself.

_ She have really pretty eyes though... _


	12. Sleepover

The evening continued, and the girls eventually decided to head to bed. Lana, Mallow and Acerola being tired from the long day they have had. Lillie and Luna were still very much awake, and kept on chatting silently for a few more minutes until Lillie started to nod off, eventually falling asleep in her bed. Luna tried to fall asleep, but didn’t manage to do so, resulting in her sitting up on the mattress that had been laid out on the floor for her, beside the three others. Looking at the other sleeping girls, she got up and walked out of the room, thinking that walking around a little would manage to get her a little more sleepy. Wearing her PJs, with a oversized hoodie over her, she started to wander down the hallway, looking at the pictures that were hanging on the wall. There was a lot of paintings of different flowers and landscapes, some having a house or a town in them. She loved looking at them, getting lost in thought and imagining her life in a timeline like them, being free from her mother and being able to be herself without being afraid of what others thought of her. She continued down the hallway and down the stairs, recalling that the closest door to the stairs, leading up to Lillie’s room, were leading into the living room. Luna walked in, looking around the room in darkness, the only light being from the moon, shining brightly through the massive windows, overlooking the seaside. Walking up to the windows, she looked outside and up at the bright moon out of habit, something she usually does whenever she woke up at night, the sight and the soft light coming from it calming her down.

«Can’t sleep?»

Luna flinched, and let out a light yelp before she quickly turned around. She placed her hand over her head when she saw Gladion standing there in the doorframe of the living room.. «Oh my god...»

Gladion chuckled softly. «Did i spook you?» he asked, taking a sip of the water bottle he were holding.

«Do you usually sneak up on people like that…?» she asked turning around to face him.

«Usually on Lillie only.» he replied.

«Gosh...I feel special now...» she replied and rolled her eyes. Gladion smirked and chuckled softly. «Why are you even awake?»

He moved from the doorframe and walked towards the kitchen, which is connected to the living room. «Been catching up on some studies.» he flatly replied.

«Oh...» she muttered softly back, watching him disappear behind the wall separating the two rooms.

As quickly he got behind the wall, he groaned silently, running his free hand over his face, trying to rub the blush that had appeared on his face away. Feeling lucky that it was dark, so the Kantonese girl wouldn’t be able to see the blush. He sighed softly, walking over to the fridge to put the bottle into it before going back to his room, going to sleep. Luna were still in the living room, not sure what she would be doing. She could keep in standing there, looking outside or she could get back to Lillie’s room, try to get to sleep. Turning around and looking out and up at the moon again, she kept standing there a few more minutes. Gladion walked out again, seeing her still standing there. The blush he got and that had slightly disappeared came right back. Luna had moved her hair to the side and up front, starting to braid it while looking at the moon and the night sky, alongside the many twinkling stars. Her PJs were of a shorts, a top and a oversize hoodie that were so big that it looked like it was the only thing she was wearing. Gladion stopped on his way out, just standing there, staring at her dark silhouette, getting illuminated by the light from the moon. She let out a light sigh as she finished braiding her hair, pulling it back over her shoulder, letting it loose as she didn’t have a hair tie to tie the end up. Gladion lightly flinched when she sighed, and started to move out of the room.

«You better get some sleep if you can.» he said and walked out of the room.

Luna turned and watched him walk out. She nodded and started to leave the room as well, getting out to the main hallway. As she got out, she stood in the door a little, hearing Gladion walk up the stairs while muttering to himself. She couldn’t hear what he said, but he were clearly giving himself a beating, which made her giggle lightly as she started to walk up the second pair of stairs. She got over to Lillie’s room again and silently opened the door, walking in. They were still sound asleep, so Luna got over to her designated bed for the night, getting under the cover and got comfortable.

* * *

The next morning, when everyone were in the kitchen, eating breakfast, Lillie mentioned that Lusamine and Gladion had left earlier, having stuff to do at the Aether office. Mallow and Lana looked rather disappointed, which made Acerola curious, looking at them while her eyes slowly narrowed at the two girls. Lillie and Luna noticed it and exchanged looks, shrugging, but it made Lillie a little curious as well.

«You look disappointed...How come?» she asked tilting her head at the two. The two perked up and blushed, shaking their heads, making the other three even more curious. Lillie then just smirked and giggled. «Wait...» she said, looking at the two with a smug expression. «Are you...crushing on my brother?»

The two got even more red. Lana then leaned over to the blonde. «He is good looking though...» she said to her.

Mallow just nodded alongside her. «Name one in Alola that isn’t crushing on him.» she said to her.

Lillie just looked over at Luna. «I’m sure Luna ain’t.» she said, giving her a smile.

«She’s new, so she don’t really count.» Acerola added, waving her hand at the blonde.

Luna just sighed softly, continuing to eat while the other were bantering. Lillie were trying to dismiss the topic, but the other three kept going on with it which made the blonde girl uncomfortable. It was funny at first, but the more they were talking about it, and how they would be trying to get closer and to get to know him made her cringe, looking at them in a mixture of disbelief and disgust.

«Guys...He’s my brother...» she muttered. Lillie then looked over at Luna again. «Have anyone talked to you like that about Sol?» she asked, trying to get her mind off the subject of her brother.

Luna hummed softly and nodded. «A lot of times.» she flatly replied, taking a sip of the pinap juice that were on the table.

Lillie just scoffed at her. «You don’t seem faced by it...» she muttered.

«I’m not. I have heard it to many times...so i’m quite immune to the  _ talk _ , so to speak.» Luna said, taking another bite of the sandwich she had made.

Lillie just growled silently to herself, but felt herself being envious of how Luna were reacting to it. She had heard it a lot about her brother, but she couldn’t really get used to it, as well as being an Aether, the name itself being talked about all over Alola, maybe even the whole world. She sighed and decided to just continue with eating, ignoring the other three that were continuing their chat. The breakfast went on and ended after Acerola decided that she needed to get back to Ula’ula Island, saying that she had to get back to her siblings and uncle. Lana then said the same, as well as she had promised to help her father with something. Getting back up to Lillie’s room, they all packed their stuff and everyone decided to leave. Luna said that she could stay behind if Lillie wanted her to, which the blonde replied with that she would be fine, and like the others, she had a few things she also needed to get done, one being going over to Aether and see if there was something she could do. Getting their stuff and heading outside, they all were heading towards the marine, while Luna got off at her place. They all said their goodbyes as she watched them walk off towards Hau’oli City. She turned towards the door and hesitated before she walked in, not being sure why she hesitated in the first place, since Sol would be the only one at home. She walked in and closed the door behind her, taking off her shoes and wandered inside. She passed his room and got over to hers, placing her bag there before walking out again into the hallway.

She stopped in front of Sol’s door and knocked. «You in there?» She didn’t get a reply, so she silently and slowly opened the door, taking a look inside. «Sol?» she muttered softly, only to see him sprawled out on his bed, sound asleep. Seeing him there, she just sighed softly. «Hopefully you didn’t pull an allnighter again...» she muttered and closed the door silently, going out to the kitchen to grab some snacks and something to drink, planning to sit outside on the porch and relax, reading the book she had recently started on.

* * *

A few more hours passed, and Sol eventually woke up, not feeling to good. He groaned as he sat up in his bed, running his hand through his hair and rubbing his eyes. He let out a deep sigh while sitting there, looking around his room a little. He got up from the bed and stretched his back while leaning over to the chair beside his bed, grabbing a tshirt and a pair of sweatpants, getting dressed. Scratching the back of his head as he walked out and into the living room, he noticed that Luna were sitting outside on the porch, reading. He had to blink a few times before walking over, looking outside to see her, sitting there in silence, reading.

«Lu? When did you get back home?» he asked in a husky voice.

She looked up at him, humming softly. «I got home a few hours ago.»

«A few hours ago…?» he replied in confusion. «What time is it…?» he asked, leaning back, looking at the wall clock in the room. «1pm?? What the hell...»

«Did you sleep well then?» she asked, putting the bookmark into her book and closed it.

Sol groaned and scratched the back of his neck. «I better have...went to sleep early last night...»

«Right…? Not sure if i’ll believe in that.» she said and got up from the chair, putting the book on the table beside it.

Sol groaned. «Ugh...Believe whatever you want, Lu.»

«Already doing that.» she replied with sass, passing him.

«Nice to see you too...» he added in a condescending tone. Luna just looked over her shoulder at him, giving him a glare. Sol just smiled sweetly back at her.

She rolled her eyes and walked off, heading toward the kitchen and Sol just casually following her, starting to ask how the previous evening was and if she had fun being around other girls. She said it was alright, and that it was overall fun, hiding the fact that she actually found it quite uncomfortable, as Lillie had forgotten to mention earlier that there would be others from their class there as well. Sol noticed that she were trying to avoid the subject.

«I know you ain’t used to hang out with people that way, but at least there are some people here in Alola that are actually trying to befriend you.» he said, poking her in the middle of her back.

She jumped forward a little, letting out a soft yelp before she turned and glared at him. Sol just smirked, wriggling his index finger at her. Luna scoffed and hurried into the kitchen and over to the fridge. «Idiot...» she hissed.

Sol just laughed softly, watching her silently growl to herself as they walked into the kitchen. She got out some food and started to reheat it in the microwave, to which Sol asked what it was and when she actually made that. She said she had made it earlier, when he were still asleep. He nodded and hummed, starting to think that he should get something to eat as well. As the microwave finished, she took the plate out and placed it in front of him.

«Eat.» she deadpan told him and opened the fridge again, grabbing a soda can and walked out, going back to her book.

Sol just looked at the plate with a mixture of confusion and surprise. «Oh...Thanks.» He looked at the plate a little more before walking around the counter, getting a fork while having a soft smile on his face. «If you weren’t my sister, i would have wooed you this second!» he shouted out of the kitchen.

«You are so gross!!!» she shouted back, followed up by a fake gagging sound.

Sol laughed and grabbed the plate, heading out to the porch and sat down beside her, starting to eat. Luna just glared at him with a disgusted grimace, which Sol noticed and just gave her a sweet smile. «Love you too.~» he said with his mouth stuffed. Luna rolled her eyes and looked down into her book again, hearing her twin chuckle beside her.


	13. A mothers "Love"

Around two months passed before Sol and Luna’s mother were back in Alola, and once she got into the house, Luna changed from the lively girl she started to become, returning to the cold and emotionless one again, which classmates and others around her noticed right away. Sol noticed, but didn’t dare to say anything about it to her, feeling that it might backfire at him. Their mother had been on her case since she walked into the residence, yelling and scolding her for whatever she found wrong, and started to find new things whenever she saw her. The newest was that she were getting chubby, and needed to lose weight. Luna didn’t take it to heart, knowing that she were already eating very little, due to not having the biggest appetite whenever there was food around her. She started to stay more in her room again, hiding from everything and most likely, everyone. Not wanting to be more of a burden that she already felt like she was. Being done with classes this day, Luna had retreated to her bedroom, saying something about studying. Sol had been invited out by Hau, planning to wander around Iki Town and possible Hau’oli City until later that day. While she were sitting in her room, their mother was in the kitchen, chatting away on her phone and were sounding quite happy, even giving Sol a sweet smile as he passed the door. He just smiled back, heading over to Luna’s room.

He stopped and knocked lightly. «Lu?»

«What…?» she replied.

«You want to tag along with me and Hau? Probably going to wander around Hau’oli City and Iki town.» he asked, sounding cheerfully and said it loud enough for their mother to hear it, making her peek out of the kitchen, listening closely.

«No. I’m studying.» she replied flatly and coldly.

«You sure? I’m sure Hau wouldn’t mind you tagging along.» he said.

«I’m sure...»

«Alright.» he replied, sounding disappointed as he started to walk off.

Luna were sitting in her bed, under the covers while the blinds and curtains were pulled over her window, making the room dark. She had the small towel in her lap, had opened it up and taken the razor on hand, but haven’t given herself any new scars but had the sharp blade pressed onto her skin, just in case she all of a sudden felt the need to, which happened rather quickly when Sol left, and that her mother arrived on her door, knocking and hissing that she should keep studying, not wanting to see any bad grades from her. As quickly her mother left, she slid the blade across her skin, holding her breath while doing so. The crimson color was hard to see, but could be seen appearing, droplets starting to form and travel down her skin, leaving a dark colored trail behind them. She felt tears appearing on her eyes, her chest tightening up and a lump forming in her throat. Silently sobbing, she wiped the tears with her cut up arm, leaving a red trail across her face, as well as smearing it over her arm. Not having done it in around two months, she thought she was on the road to get better and break out of it, only to fall back on it, which made her quite disappointed in herself, getting back to square one. While sitting there, she could hear her mother talk. She couldn’t hear what she were saying, but it was at least something amusing, since she were laughing.

* * *

The evening came around and Luna had been sitting in her room the entire day after school, which didn’t sit well with her mother, forcing her out of the safety of her room and into the living room and into the kitchen, snarling at her and scolding her for sitting there the entire day. Sol had Hau, Lillie and Gladion over, which she didn’t know, and they could hear their mother being loud, and Luna trying to get a word in, only to get shut off and hissed at.

«You are so utterly useless! I can’t believe you are a child of mine!» she snarled at her, poking her forehead.

The four in the living room dropped their jaws while hearing it. Sol were both embarrassed and worried for Luna, excusing himself and walked over to the kitchen. Their mother got louder, and eventually he heard a drawer get up, making him hurry over to the room. She were snarling at Luna, holding around her wrist tightly, which seemed to be painful to her. She had seen her arms, and found a knife, telling her loudly that if she wanted to do that to herself, she could have asked, proceeding to slice it across her skin. Seeing the knife, Sol leaped and snagged it out of her hand.

«Mom! What the fuck!?» he exclaimed loudly and in a slight panic.

«Honey, you better stay out of this.» she told him, holding her hand out and asked for the knife to be handed over to her.

«Hell no! What the fuck is wrong with you!?» he snarled at her. She eventually let go of Luna’s wrist, and Sol took a quick glance over, seeing several cuts on her arm, most of them coming from the dull kitchen knife.

As soon as she let go of her wrist, Luna pulled back in a hurry, gripping around her arm tightly, feeling the throbbing pain. She were shaking quite violently, tears streaming down her cheeks, her mind blocking out all the noise that were going on around her. Sol were furious, snarling for their mother to get lost, to which their mother didn’t seem the big ourdeal about.

«She had already been cutting herself up, so helping her shouldn’t matter.» she said, scoffing and rolling her eyes.

«That’s not the fucking point!» he snarled furiously at her.

«Ugh, please...» she then said condescending at him. «She was never wanted in the first place. I’m still angry at myself for not aborting her when i could.» she deadpan told the twins.

Luna already knew that their mother didn’t like her, but hearing it coming from their mother came as a shock anyway. Sol moped at what she said, his mouth hanging open in pure shock. The three guests that they had heard it, and were equally as shocked. Lillie held her hands up in front of her mouth, concealing the gasp that came from her, as well as tears starting to appear. Gladion and Hau were just sitting there in shock, not sure what to do in the situation. They could hear someone hurry off and a door quickly getting closed. Their mother had taken her leave as well, gotten a jacket and left the premises, and Sol peeking into the living room to the other three.

«Sorry about that...» he muttered softly, looking down the hallway to Luna’s room.

«We should get going anyway.» Gladion then said and got up from the chair he was sitting in. Lillie and Hau followed suit, being still quite shocked and uncomfortable.

«Sorry...» Sol muttered to them.

«Is Luna okay?» Lillie asked, her voice slightly shaking.

Sol just shaked his head. «No...She’s not...»

Gladion just urged for them to leave and not stay around any longer, it being quite out of place and unwanted after an event like that. Sol apologized and walked with them to the front, saying goodbye and goodnight to them before he got into the kitchen again, finding the first aid kit and got over to Luna’s room, lightly knocking on the door.

«Lu?» he called for her softly. She didn’t reply, but he could hear her light sobbing, doing her best in trying to conceal and muffle the sound. He slowly opened the door, peeking inside and saw her sitting on the floor, her back leaned towards the bed, knees up to her face. «Lu...» he muttered softly.

«Get out...» she hissed between the sobbing, not looking up at him.

He just walked right in and over to her, turning on the lamp on her nightstand and sitting down in front of her. He put the first aid kit to the side and scooted closer to her, pulling her into a tight hug. She tried to resist, but failed quickly and didn’t have the strength to fight back. Sol were gently rubbing her back, feeling her shivering rather violently and her sobbing getting louder. He didn’t let go until she had calmed down, her sobbing stopping but tears still streaming down her cheeks. Sol started to patch her up, making sure that the cuts were washed and disinfected before putting bandage around her arm. Luna kept wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt, looking quite defeated while she were trying to control her breathing, and the few convulsive gasps that kept coming. She flinched a couple of times as he disinfected he cleaned them up, making sure that it was up to her standard, despite him being quite clumsy with it, not knowing what he was doing with the bandage.

«For fucks sake...» he hissed to himself, struggling to get the bandage lay tightly and comfortably around her arm. Luna just watched him as he worked with it, eventually figuring it out and managing to get it tight enough to stay wrapped up. «Finally...» he added in relief, followed by a soft sigh.

Luna looked at the handy work of his, studying it. «It’ll at least last until tomorrow...» she muttered softly.

«I know i’m bad...» he muttered, pouting at her. «But it works at least...It’s better than my last time.»

«And the other 100 attempts before this one.» she added, a slight smile appearing on her lips.

«I know it’s horrendous...but i have these!» he said and held up his hands to her face. «Massive, bulky, man hands... That ain’t good for small nitpicking stuff like that...» he added, wiggling his fingers vigorously.

«You are completely hopeless…» she muttered, shaking her head.

«That i’m well aware of...» he said, pouting. The pout slowly turned into a smile. «At least i have this...twin...that ain’t half bad.» he added, smirking at her.

Luna scoffed lightly, followed by a soft giggle and a smile. Sol grinned more, letting out a light chuckle before he held out his arms at her. Luna didn’t hesitate and accepted the hug he was offering, burying her face in his shoulder. They kept the hug for a few minutes, until she were done with it. Sol then said that she should just get some sleep, and that he’ll make sure that the place is locked and ready for the night. Luna nodded, rubbing her face a little as Sol got up on his feet, offering to help her up. Sol walked out of her room, with the first aid kit on hand and she got ready for bed. He got out to the kitchen again and put the aid kit away before he found his phone, seeing a few messages from both Lillie and Hau, sounding worried. He got a look at the time as he opened the messages, seeing that he and Luna had been in her room for a while, mostly because he’s incompetent with bandages. He replied quickly to them, saying that everything is fine. For the time being at least, and that he didn’t know were their mother was and frankly didn’t care at that point, not after the event earlier that evening. While being on the phone, he sent a text message to their father, who were still in Kanto. He gave him the story from the evening, as well as a few other things. It didn’t take long before he got replies from him, sounding incredibly worried and even saying that he’ll take the trip to Alola, just to make sure. Sol said that he would be welcome, but didn’t know what their mother would be thinking of that.

_ Not sure what mom would think about that…  _ **_\- Sol_ **

_ Couldn’t care less! Let that crazy woman be! After what you have sent me, i have to make sure that both you and Luna are OK.  _ **_\- Dad_ **

_ I guess. We’re fine though. Shaken, but fine. _ **_\- Sol_ **

_ I’m coming over anyway. Not taking any chances!  _ **_\- Dad_ **

_ Alright. I’ll tell Luna tomorrow.  _ **_\- Sol_ **

_ You do that. I’ll let you know when i’m there. Okay?  _ **_\- Dad_ **

_ Sure. We’ll be waiting then.  _ **_\- Sol_ **

Sol had a soft smile on him, knowing that Luna were quite fond of their father, the two having a better relationship that her and their mother. Sol did get a few more text messages from their father telling him that he couldn’t believe what had happened and had to reread the message several times, just be sure that he didn’t misread, nor miss anything in it. Sol chuckled lightly and started to walk around the house, locking every door and window that were leading outside, and turning off the lights in the different rooms. As he finished that, he got over to his room and got himself ready for bed. While laying in his bed, looking up at the ceiling and occasionally over at the door, he started to go through the times Luna and their mother had been fighting, seeing the small details on how it started, and how much that their mother didn’t like Luna, forcing her to quit the few things she lived doing while still living in Kanto. He sighed softly, not sure what to do about it, as it was in the past, but since their father would be arriving sometime soon, he decided to ask him while having the chance.


End file.
